Eulogy for Yvonne Yvonne was born in Bilston, West Midlands, to Arthur and May Cotterill, on thirteenth of August 1936. She has one sister Marlene, eight years her junior, and two brothers, Ivor and Andrew, who was the youngster of the family. Yvonne went on to be second Mum to Andrew, who unfortunately cannot be here with us today. Yvonne has a Son Paul from her previous marriage and has two Grandchildren, Fiona and Alexander and three Great Grandchildren, Korben, Cameron and Max. Yvonne left home at the young age of fifteen and went to work at the Cumberland Hotel, from where she had a great view of the Coronation Ceremony. She was a real hard worker and would do anything she could to earn a living. At one time in her life she held down three jobs at the same time, starting at four in the morning and finishing her third job at eleven at night. Sid told me that she would work at such a pace that she did more hours than there were in a day to work. Yvonne made many great friends over the years and lots of those she befriended have remained good friends all of her life. She was a long standing member of the Women’s Institute and also the Wine Club; loved repairing antiques and china, was an excellent cook, loved travelling and even played darts ….. badly! Yvonne also liked sewing and used to knit bears for charities. She loved people, making new friends, hated liars, liked music and enjoyed dancing. She was also a ‘hoarder’ – she kept everything, just in case it was needed some day. Yvonne, I am told, had a thing about water, or maybe, water had a thing about her. You know – she was always the one who fell in and boats seemed to present a problem too…. Imagine the boat….. and the canal side…. and Yvonne somewhere in the middle !! Yvonne was involved in her church as a social secretary and her favourite saying when things went wrong was ‘Oh Sod’. Yvonne met Sid in a nightclub where she worked as a barmaid and he worked as a doorman in Bayswater. They moved to Salford where Yvonne worked in another club where she met the likes of Morecambe and wise, Bernie Winters, Jimmy Saville and the cast of Coronation Street, amongst others. They moved to Wembley in 1965, where a series of off licenses provided Yvonne with her work, before she started working as a cleaner for the Ali Razer family from Saudi Arabia. It was during this time in Wembley that Yvonne kept a duck called Henrietta. Stacey told me it was her introduction to duck eggs. Sid and Yvonne got married in 1967 at the Spiritualist Church… the date was Friday the thirteenth. I’m told that some people did not attend because of the date, but the thirteenth has always been a lucky date for the happy couple. After eighteen years of service to the Arabs in Kensington, Yvonne and Sid were offered the job of live in housekeepers at the Ali Razer country estate, where they stayed until Yvonne retired at the age of sixty six; they then moved to Wales Around the time of retirement, Yvonne was diagnosed with cancer, which she fought off; two more time she had the bad news that it had returned and twice more she fought hard to beat this terrible disease. Sid and Yvonne moved to Spain in November 2008 and shortly afterwards was diagnosed with it again for the fourth time and again beat it, but from then on she had to battle with several other illnesses. Because of her poor health Yvonne and Sid were prevented from getting involved with anything very much since their arrival here, but did manage to join the Lions and the Spiritualist Circle. Yvonne was a fighter, a strong woman who worked hard at keeping family and friends in touch with each other. Several nieces and nephews will remember Aunty Yvonne telling them off for not making enough effort to keep in contact. In losing Yvonne we have all lost a great friend. Sid has lost a friend and mentor; she was a constant support to Sid, even when she did not agree with the decisions that he made. She was always loyal and a companion who you could tell anything to…. If it was a secret, it stayed a secret. Yvonne, you will be missed by so many people whose lives you touched.