Val’s story

Val was a wartime baby, born on October 11th 1942, at home at the Nightingale Maternity Home. She lived at 231 Osmaston Road, just opposite the Royal Crown Derby Factory, and sadly was to be the only child of Flo and Bill. Val's father was a soldier in Italy and tragically was killed in 1943, never having the chance to meet his daughter. Val did speak fondly of her father and knew he was buried in a military cemetery in Bari, Italy.

Val was then raised by her hardworking mum, with help from grandparents and aunts. She was particularly close to her cousin Margaret, who, like a sister, used to look out for her at school. She contracted meningitis as a small child and, as a result, was left partially deaf. She was offered a chance to go to school at the Royal College for the Deaf, but her mum refused to let her go. Flo liked to keep her daughter as close to her as possible. She had lost her husband and, with the meningitis, almost lost her child too. It might be that Flo was taking no chances.

School at that time was not set up for a child with hearing loss, and Val had talked about being made to sit at the back of the class and how she found it difficult learning to read and write.

A trip to the Engineers Club in Derby would prove life-changing for Val; John Hodgkinson was there, and he told us that Val started talking to him. He smiled as he told us she was attractive and agreed she indeed ticked all his boxes!

A relationship developed and they married the following year at St Andrews Church when Val was 18, on March 11th 1961. John and Val would have celebrated their 65th, Blue Sapphire wedding anniversary.

They had been so thrilled to become parents to Dave in 1964, but Val would talk about what a difficult labour she'd had with him and how they thought they might lose him. Happily, Paul followed in 1968 and then, following a long gap and a holiday to Scotland, a daughter, Karen, was born in 1981. As Val would laugh, "I am not going to Scotland again!" That was typical of Val -she was great with a cheeky comment, a subtle eye roll, and much to her grandchildren's amusement, a naughty swear word or two!

Once married, Val didn't often work outside of the home. She did do a few cleaning jobs in offices and schools, and whenever she went, she enjoyed a chat and a catch-up. She was so easy to talk to. However, for Val, whilst John went to work at Rolls-Royce and then latterly at the University, her life's work was her family and home.

As a mum, the children agreed she was always there for them. They all felt very loved. She was 100% not strict, and as Dave laughed, if you wanted a day off school, you always went to Mum. Paul remembers coming home from school every lunchtime, where Mum would have made him a hot meal. She was a lovely cook, and her Sunday roasts were sublime. Her Yorkshire pudding was like cupcakes.

Val has endured some significant health issues over the years, both physical and mental, but she coped well and was never heard to moan about it.

As a family, they used to enjoy holidays. When the family was small, it was often the Isle of Wight, and later, as the family grew older, there were memorable holidays abroad to destinations including Majorca, CORFU, Tenerife and Lanzarote. She loved all those holidays, and it was even better when as many family members could join them; children and grandchildren all have the loveliest memories of them.

Val loved her role as a grandmother, known by all as Nanna, and later as a great-grandma to Ella, to whom she was her beloved Nanna Val. When they were small, Val was like the baby whisperer; she was always the one to stop the tears. Her fun side really emerged wth her grandchildren, and she and John loved to spend time with them. She always kept up with what everyone was doing; she keenly followed Josh, Beth, Jack, Oliver, Megan and Ella.... and they all came to visit their grandparents regularly at their lovely home in Gorse Close, Littleover. It was a lovely surprise when Megan made an unexpected visit back from Australia to see her family.

Val enjoyed various pastimes and loved knitting and word searches especially. She could not resist a scratchcard and a trip to Bingo and had enjoyed some lovely wins. She was very lucky! She also loved watching Heartbeat on repeat!

One of our favourite memories that still makes us laugh. We can hear her voice, clear as day, telling us to "piss off" whenever we teased her or started singing Valerie at her; she'd roll her eyes pretending she was annoyed, but the smile gave her away, think she secretly loved it!

Throughout her life and especially the last 2 years of her life, she was so brave, courageous and strong. She just got on with things, even when life was heavy, and somehow still found space to be funny, to make others smile and keep going.

As a family, we're going to take a little bit of that bravery, strength, and courage, and hold it dear.