Entry music: The Approaching Night by Phillip Wesley

Welcome:

Hello everyone, my name is Beverly Lewis and I have the privilege of leading the ceremony for Annette today. Our thoughts are with her family, in particular her husband George, her children Ben and daughter in law Kathleen, Bex and son in law Gordon, her granddaughter Nola, her brothers and sisters Marie, Richard, Michael, Angela and Philip.

Family and friends’ Tributes:

Annette’s sister Marie

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Annette loved performance art of almost every description; dance - particularly modern but also classical ballet and flamenco; theatre - from Shakespeare through serious modern drama to comedy; music - the radio / Spotify was always on but she loved going to see bands and went to Victorious and other festivals every year; stand-up comedy; street theatre; you name it and she would want to be there watching it. Her friends and colleagues Sue and Lin will now pay their tribute to Annette in their own unique way -

Colleagues: Sue and Lin

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Annette's philosophy in life was very much about seeing the positive in everyone and everything. She always had a smile on her face and could light up a room simply by entering. Annette took such pleasure in the beauty and joy of nature, the lasting pleasure of friendship, the importance of love, the delight in seeing new generations grow and learn. The lyrics to this particular song which was one of Annette’s favourites are so very poignant, this is What a wonderful World by Louis Armstrong –

Music: What a wonderful world by Louis Armstrong

Eulogy:

Annette was born on 19th November 1960 in Stoke Newington, London, to mum Mary and dad Dick. Her parents were first generation Irish immigrants and they were always part of a large Irish community in London. Family was very important to her parents and Annette spent several holidays as a child in Ireland visiting her grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins. Annette was the fourth child of six and always recalled her younger days as very busy and very loud, being part of such a large family. Growing up in a traditional family Annette always said that there were lots of fun times and there were also tough times, as money was tight but she said that she was lucky to have such wonderful loving parents, who welcomed George into the family with open arms.

Annette met George in London at an 18th birthday party and it was love at first sight, for George at least! Their first date was to a football match to see Leyton Orient play, which probably won’t surprise many of you as George is such a football fan and sport has always played a large part in his life and Annette feigned an interest in football for him! In fact for her 21st birthday they went to Manchester to see Man United play at Old Trafford. They stayed in a plush hotel and Annette thoroughly enjoyed that even if she didn’t fully appreciate the football.

In 1979 Annette came to Portsmouth to study and Annette and George were married in April 1980. They spent their honeymoon that summer on their motorbike visiting the extended family in Ireland. This included visiting one of Annette’s uncles who was in hospital at the time and although he had only met Annette as a baby he recognised her immediately as she looked so much like her mother did as a young woman.

Annette fell in love with George and also with Portsmouth when she first stepped off a train at the Harbour station and saw the sea. She liked living in a city with all the amenities this brings, but she loved the village feel of Southsea and was always delighted to bump into friends and colleagues which seemed to happen every day. Another reason she loved the City was its distinct lack of hills as she loved to cycle, particularly along the seafront which was her most favourite place. She would freely admit that she was built for comfort, not speed and she was much happier on the flat than going up a hill.

George served in the Royal Navy for ten years and their first home was in married quarters in Finch Road in Eastney. Annette studied hard and graduated from Portsmouth Poly in 1982 with a BA in Social Administration. During her finals George was involved in the Falklands War and he returned from the Falklands on the day that Annette was due to sit her very last exam. She was prepared to miss the exam to be at Southampton Docks to meet George from the ship but thankfully did not have to do this as her statistics lecturer, Otto, was kind enough to sit with her in a room while she sat the exam alone and then he rushed her to Southampton on his motorbike. Shortly afterwards Annette and George moved to Grove Road North where they loved living as it was around the corner from Rosie’s Vineyard where they would go every Sunday promptly at 12.05, to get a good table to listen to the jazz. Their son Ben was born in 1985 and their daughter Bex arrived the following year.

Annette was always very family orientated and adored her children. Ben and Bex both say that their mum was incredibly supportive of everything they did and always very encouraging and extremely proud of their achievements. Ben was not happy when his mum made him have piano lessons but if it wasn’t for his mum he wouldn’t have gone on to do his degree in music technology and he wouldn’t be the extremely talented musician that he is now. George bought Annette the piano because she was so keen on music but to be fair it was always Ben who played it, Annette just dusted it!

While Annette encouraged Ben’s musical career she also supported Bex in her enjoyment of Drama, taking her to numerous events and attending all of her performances in productions. Annette was a very loving mum and Ben & Bex knew they were always in a safe and happy environment. Both have said how Annette always made their friends feel so welcome when they came to the house: if someone was important to the children then they were important to her. Ben and Bex recall that she would always say to them: “Be safe, be cool, look after yourselves and each other.”

Bex became Head Girl at Priory School and Annette and George were very much the proud parents and it is testament to their good parenting that their children have become such lovely people who have grown up with the right values in life. Ben will always be grateful of the encouragement his mum gave him growing up and Bex will always treasure the memories she has of her mum helping her to choose her wedding dress in Cardiff last year. They enjoyed a long weekend with appointments at several boutiques and much champagne was enjoyed. The highlight was finding the absolute perfect dress in Prichard and Moore, a shop selling donated gowns where 100% of the proceeds go to cancer research; how poignant this is now. 

Annette had always wanted to teach but having graduated in 1982 this ambition went on hold until after Bex started school. Annette completed her PGCE in 1994 at La Sainte Union College in Southampton and started teaching full time at Meredith Infant School where she had completed her teaching practise. Annette blossomed when she made the move to Early Years as her philosophy of child centred learning and play as a basis for development was matched by the Foundation Stage curriculum. In 2005 the opportunity to do a secondment for Portsmouth City Council as an advisory teacher felt like a huge leap but was in fact the perfect next step and working from Flying Bull as one of the Early Years Advisory Teachers were amongst the happiest years of her career.

In 2012 she gave up teaching to move to France where George was working. They spent three years living in Versailles, having a fabulous time. All their friends and family members visited them there and Annette had a wonderful time as a lady of leisure, enjoying being one of the ladies who lunch! When they returned to live in England in 2015 they made a point of visiting Paris, Annette’s favourite city, every year.

Despite being a self-proclaimed townie, Annette loved to spend time walking in the countryside and her and George spent many happy weekends walking on the South Downs and on several other local and more distant trails. It didn't matter if it rained...so long as there was a country pub somewhere along the route. Just last year for George’s 60th birthday they walked the Itchen Way and, as a surprise, Annette had arranged for dozens of friends and family to meet them at various strategic points, pubs of course, along the way; a lovely weekend that George will always treasure.

Annette enjoyed nothing more than telling a good story and reminiscing. They had wonderful family holidays over the years to practically every capital city in Europe and visiting California, Australia and also New Zealand to see Bex and Gordon. For their 25th wedding anniversary they went to New York and for their 30th anniversary they went on safari to Botswana. They went most recently to India and China too. Their travels created fantastic memories and their travels around the UK to visit friends were always good times to treasure.

Annette loved gardening and a recent project was their allotment which they shared with Craig and Annette in particular loved growing her own veg and flowers; Annette provided the inspiration and George provided the hard labour. They were a great team but he knows he was always well managed by Annette.

She will be remembered for her kind and caring nature and always wanting to help others, so much so that on her 50th birthday she had a party but asked people not to buy her presents; instead she asked everyone to donate in aid of the hospital unit supporting Ben’s friend Elio who had suffered life changing injuries in a cycling accident and so she made her birthday a chance to fund raise, testament to her compassionate and selfless nature.

It is difficult to find faults in Annette but George, Ben and Bex admitted that she was very annoying at times as she would leave tissues absolutely everywhere and often in pockets or up sleeves and these would ruin many a clothes wash. In fact even in the last wash that George did after she passed away there was a rogue tissue which covered everything in white bits, almost as if it was her last amusing gesture! I think we can forgive her for this as she was such an amazing person throughout her life.

Her granddaughter Nola was born in April this year and Annette adored her and was so looking forward to being ‘Nana Netty’. Sadly in July, despite being fit and healthy all her life, Annette was diagnosed with cancer and even though she started chemotherapy in August she declined, much too quickly. In late September she went into hospital and seemed to perk up for a few days following some blood transfusions and this allowed her to have visitors and provided her the opportunity to say goodbye personally to at least some of the people she loved so much. Even in her last few days she was more concerned about them than herself. On 5th October she passed away with her family at her side.

She will be so sorely missed by all those who knew and loved her both personally and professionally. Her family are very grateful for the numerous messages of condolences they have received and overwhelmed by the respect she received from fellow professionals in the city.

Reflection music with visual tribute: Have I told you lately that I love you by Van Morrison

Annette loved poetry and this short poem captures her spirit wonderfully -
Poem: Afterglow

The memory of you will be a happy one. 
You’ll leave an afterglow of smiles now life is done. 
You’ll leave an echo whispering softly down the ways 
Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days. 
The tears of those who grieve,
Will dry before the sun. 
The love you gave in life,
Will linger long after you are gone.

The Committal

Closing words

Closing music: Let it Be by The Beatles