I have a lot of memories of mum, too many, it makes it hard to think of one. All the memories I have through my life are those of mum being completely selfless and wanting nothing but happiness for Dad, us four, our partners and the children. I’ve tried to think of more recent memories over the last 18 months that have been happy as despite the bad times there have been some fantastic times in the latter part of mums life, I’ve done a couple of old ones too: The Barn Clearance October 2017: I had been speaking to mum and dad for ages about the overwhelming prospect of clearing out the large derelict space in readiness for the big build to start, worried about how I would get it done, ( we had so much on- Moses was 5, Beau was 3 and Hannah was 11 Months pregnant)..who would help me at short notice? In typical mum style she said: “Wel just round up the troops don’t worry Alex”. On the Saturday morning the whole family arrived in scruffs armed with tools led by Mum to dismantle and remove everything- I remember mum whacking an old wooden shed with a sledge hammer and Prising up flags with a wrecking bar with the help of Janet by her side, Oliver and Harry pulling by hand an ancient trailer that was said to be ‘immovable’ as I “assisted them”..whilst Lizzie and Hannah held the fort- I remember pausing and thinking how amazing my mum was- she had as usual brought my whole family together to help when it was needed most, for nothing, nothing but laughter and happiness- that in itself was what fuelled mum through life. Menorca July 2018 Hannah and I had arranged for mum and Dad to travel to a nice hotel for Dads 65th to have some precious time together, at this stage we knew something wasn’t right but didn’t know what. As a result I decided to fly out with Beau and Lizzie, Mike, Patrick and Betty did too...all in different locations..(typical Wotherspoon’s). We had an amazing family Holiday- the best moment was seeing Patrick walking down the beach not knowing Beau was there...mum said “whose that Beau?” as they saw each other Patrick did his usual floaty skippy jump in the air shouting “this is a dream” as they ran and hugged each other...then started fighting...mum loved it- it typified that mums time grew more precious the more members of the family she had around her. Easter Bonnets and Eggs Hunts Primrose Cottages Every year mum bought bonnets to decorate and eggs for the children to find at Primrose cottages, mum loved this as all the children were together- the boys always moaned as Harry ended up with more chocolate Don’t strangle my son 1996 My Shewan has strangled me with my tie and pushed me into some lockers at school. I told mum and she reacted calmly- the next day she spotted Mervyn at school pick up, lept out of the car and gave him what for...it ended with mum chasing him down the main road at school shouting “don’t you ever strangle my son”...I felt so protected. Brother Battle of 98 Oliver and I had been to a party at the Georgian house together in Bolton I was 16 Ol was 18...we unfortunately had crossed words which escalated into our only real fight we ever had in the carpark- as the crowds gathered no one could part us for what seemed like ages- suddenly mum pulled into the car park, the crowds parted and mum led us both to the car towering over her by our earlobes..she may have been five foot 2 but she certainly was in charge from the start to the end Breakfast and Nebo Waking up in Arran to the sound of Andrea Bocelli and the smell of breakfast for 10-15 cooking- Dads gone to get Nebo from Kings Cross- standing laughing with Mum looking out of the Bedroom window because dad literally wasn’t moving with the seagull engine Naxos and the plate throwing August 2007 We were having a family meal in a restaurant in Agia Anna Naxos , mum has order steak and it came frozen, dad complained- the owner said “I know you love your wife but don’t make a scene in my restaurant”...dad picked all the plates up, walked into the kitchen and threw them at the chef....now that’s defending your wife’s honour The one time dad didn’t listen to Mum September 2013 Il De Rè We were having a family meal in a beautiful little French restaurant on il dè re- Maddie was ordering food in French as they didn’t speak English, Dad insisted in ordering his own in ‘fluent’ French- Mum was in hysterics when it transpired he’d ordered half a crab for his starter another half a crab for his main as she sat eating an amazing seafood platter- though she shared it with Dad I asked Moses and Beau: Moses said: “Scraping seaweed of the rocks in Arran with Ninni was nice” Beau said: “She gave me malteasers and kissed me a lot”