1936 – Sheila Corkery was born an only child to Thomas Henry Clitheroe & Doris Clitheroe nee Steele on the 20th December 1936 at St. Catherine’s Road Nursing Home, Bitterne Park, Southampton. 1937 – 7th February 1937 Sheila was christened at the Church of the Ascension 1939 – War was declared between Britain & Germany. Many of Sheila’s Uncles were forced to join the army & air force. Her father Thomas Henry worked for the railway which was classed as a necessary job for communications & transport so was not called up. Bomb shelters were constructed in gardens and public places, food was rationed and sometimes scarce. 1942 – A bomb landed in the front garden & completely demolished the family bungalow. Luckily Sheila & her parents were in the shelter at the bottom of the garden & all survived. The canary died. Sheila & her mother were sent off to stay with her Aunt Nellie in Redditch whilst her father Thomas Henry stayed with his sister Harriet in Southampton trying to salvage belongings & to secure a new family home. A few months later Sheila & her mother Doris, returned back home to Southampton & moved into the rented house her father had secure 25, Northfield Road, Bitterne Park, Southampton. 1943 – Sheila started school attending Bitterne Park Infants School 1945 – Sheila’s mother Doris was taken ill with back problems (little did Mum know that she would suffer similar problems herself many years later). Although Sheila tried to help as much as she could with the chores it was decided that she should go & stay with her Aunty Nellie in Redditch. It was a hard few months for Sheila having to be separated from her parents during this difficult time, start a new school & try to make new friends. She spoke later about feeling like an outsider especially with her southern accent! Her Aunt Nellie taught her embroidery & at that young age she was fascinated by all the coloured threads & wanted to learn o sew! Over the years she would learn to sew, knit, and embroider & to make clothes, taught by both her Aunts Nellie & Molly and her mother, Doris. The end of World War II was a cause for huge celebrations & Sheila remembered staying up until past midnight with her Aunt Nellie & Uncle, in the centre of Redditch town. Not long after, Sheila was allowed to return home meeting her Mother at New Street Station in Birmingham. In her excitement of seeing her Mum again she somehow got her knee caught in the turnstile & almost had to have the fire brigade called out! Luckily a passerby helped by lending them vaseline which with some pulling and twisting released her knee, much to her Aunty Nellie’s relief & just before the train arrived with her Mother Doris on to collect her! 1946 – Sheila started dancing lessons in ballet & tap which she attended in Highfield. She practised for hours and continued into her adult hood with ballet & danced in many chorus lines & also mastered the art of dancing on points (her toes!). Many years later she blamed her squashed toes on having had her toes crammed into ballet shoes & practising for hours! After the War life was good & Sheila enjoyed family picnics in Lyndhurst & holidays to Bournemouth & Highcliffe. 1946 – Sheila started at Bitterne Park Secondary School. She was a bridesmaid to her parents good friends Maude & Bill Turrell She was confirmed at the Church of the Ascension & she started writing to her first pen-friend Wyoma Farrell ,who lived in Seattle, USA. Sheila still wrote to Wyoma right up until her end and also had many pen-friends that became dear to her over the years. She battled with teachers to perfect her needlework as they refused to teach her as she was naturally left handed but had to teach herself to sew right handed so that she could take part in the lessons. At this young age her determination to master the seemingly impossible was apparent & she worked tirelessly to perfect it. How shamed those teachers would feel if they knew what an amazingly talented craftswoman she would become, despite being left handed! 1954 – Sheila at 17 ½ years met Patrick Joseph Corkery at a dance in the Guildhall, Southampton & that was the start of us all from the moment they met! Patrick aged 21 years had travelled over on the ships from County Cork in Ireland. He was based in Southampton at this time & from this first meeting at the dance, sought to meet her parents Thomas & Doris Clitheroe to seek their approval and the courtship began! During this time Patrick worked in London during the week & many letters were passed between them during this separation of which my mother has kept all her copies of to this day! 1957 – On the 8th June 1957 Sheila aged 20 ½ years married Patrick Joseph Corkery in St. Boniface Church, Shirley, Southampton 1959 – Early Summer of 1959 Sheila had her first child a son, named Philip John Corkery 1960 –Early Winter of 1960 Sheila had her second child a daughter, named Angela Theresa Corkery 1962 –Mid Summer of 1962 Sheila had her third child another daughter, named Pauline Elizabeth Corkery 1964 – In the spring of 1963 Sheila had her fourth child another daughter, named Susan Mary Corkery 1968 – Late in the Winter of 1968 Sheila had her fifth child another daughter, named Yvonne Margaret Corkery 1969 – Sheila had her first driving lesson! Many years, lessons & tests later she finally passed when in her forties. Then there was no stopping her, she loved her new found independence & all her cars the first being a mini! In the November Sheila & the family moved to a new build house in Hedge End, 26, Navigator’s way which they lived in for 25 years before moving to their retirement bungalow in Coniston Gardens, also in Hedge End. 1971 – Sheila’s mother Doris Clitheroe fell ill and sadly passed away on 5th November 1971 from Cancer. Here again it’s strange that many years later the same fate though a different type of Cancer would befall Sheila also. Both losing their life to this horrid disease. 1973 – Sheila started on her adult education mission by applying for a University Social Worker course for which she was accepted. This need for further education soon became her passion for many years over which she excelled in many courses, gained her degree & Bachelor of Science & became a qualified teacher. During this year also Sheila took lessons to learn classical guitar & joined the Women’s Institute in Hedge End. 1974 – Mid Summer of 1974 Sheila had her sixth & final child, another daughter named Maria Antoinette Corkery 1976 – Sheila got a part-time job as a receptionist at Botley Surgery. Not being able to drive yet at this point she cycled to and from work on her trusty bike which many of us will have fond memories of her flying around on! She even managed to do the weekly grocery shop for her now family of 7 people on this bike, which is no mean feat! 1989- After securing her degree through Open University & working every spare hour she could whilst also running a home, having six children & a husband to care for Sheila took her teaching certificate and in 1989 Sheila was tutoring four classes at adult education and also worked for the Citizens Advice Bureau. Despite all this, Sheila’s hunger for learning more was still there and in this same year she started studying for a City & Guilds in flower arranging. Over the coming years Sheila would continue to teach, work at CAB & start a Skill share group teaching crafts to a group of friends and ladies her were interested in learning new crafts. 1997 – Sheila experienced her first balloon flight over West Moors which was a present for her 60th Birthday. Sheila & Paddy celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary by hiring a large farmhouse in Malmsbury and celebrating with all the family members & their partners around at this time totalling 13 adults & 7 grandchildren! Once again Sheila loved having her large brood around her and cherished every minute of the celebration. 2002 – To celebrate their 45th Wedding Anniversary Sheila had a trip with Patrick back to St.Ives where they had honeymooned & visited the Eden Project which fascinated her as she loved all plants & flowers. 2006- In December Sheila visited Texas with her husband Patrick to visit their daughter Angela & her family to celebrate her 70th Birthday. They celebrated her birthday on the 20th December & also Christmas over there. They got back just in time for New Year in the UK after having their flight delayed for 24 hours due to Hurricanes & having to hole up in a hotel near the airport. Yet another adventure for the two of them! 2007 – 8th June 2007 Sheila celebrated 50 years of marriage with Patrick Joseph & celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary with almost all their family & grandchildren in a huge farmhouse they hired in Ludlow. With 11 adults & 7 Grandchildren present it was chaotic but fun! Mum loved having another big family celebration & getting everyone together she was planning a similar event for her 75th Birthday which would have been in December this year. 2008 – Sheila & Paddy had a holiday touring Italy which they loved seeing all the places they had dreamed of including Venice, Rome, The Vatican City & the Italian Lakes. 2010 – For many years Mum had been running Craft Groups & attending classes & groups for all things crafty, including Lace, Beading, Quilting to name just a few! She was an amazing craftswoman & perfection was always sought in every piece of craft she undertook. Her home is full of amazing things she has made over the years and we as her children have loads of things she has made & given to us that range from beautiful, intricate & in some cases quirky to say the least! But all made with amazing attention to detail. She used to share her ideas & Skills with her friends & for many years ran a skill share group over in Millbrook Southampton. Around September time in 2010 Sheila gave up running her Skill Share group in Millbrook, finding it all too tiring. Little did we know at this time why she was not feeling herself. Sadly as the months went on Sheila felt decidedly worse, having no energy, losing weight & sometimes having difficulty breathing. On the 18th December she was admitted into Southampton General hospital with a collapsed lung. Her right-hand lung was 70% full of fluid. Over the next few days all sorts of tests & scans were carried out to try to find why this had occurred. During the tests on a particular scan a shadow was seen on the right-hand side and on the 21st December the day after her 74th Birthday we were advised they suspected it was a Cancer. Mum was devastated as Cancer was her one fear. We chatted & cried & then tried to make a plan. We agreed we were going to be positive, have all the tests they suggested & see what could be done. I left the hospital that day with a heavy heart. Over the next few days they drained the fluid from Mum’s lung & re-inflated it. They allowed her to come home for Xmas & we finally got released around 7pm on Christmas Eve. Mum had to go back into hospital on many occasions throughout January for more tests, scans, an operation & a biopsy. At the end of all this they advised that she had a terminal Cancer called Mesothelioma which was related to exposure to asbestos and was non treatable in Mum’s case, she was already too weak. Mum was amazing she took this news onboard & spent the next 3 months getting her things in order that she wanted & needed to. As ever her family & husband came first. I don’t know how she did it whilst feeling so ill but in these 3 months she, organised wills to be written and registered with Solicitors, lists to be made of where she wanted her personal affects to go & to whom, she organised her savings, met & spoke with the HASAG( Hampshire Asbestos support & awareness group) team & sorted financial aid that she could get whilst ill, she donated some of her own money to this charity, she handwrote to all her close friends and pen fiends who are dotted all around the UK & the world, she embroidered beautiful cards for any birthdays in those months as she always had, she knitted at least one character teddy for each of her children, in some cases knitting 2 or 4! Quilted a cushion for her husband and started another, arranged for all her children to visit in March coming in from Texas, Sweden & Portugal & held a family lunch with us all & Dad. She had made and given us each a gift bag of items she had carefully selected for each of us remembering things & colours we liked that suited us & our homes. She had arranged a display of her ‘Favourite’ craft pieces she had arranged & had family photo albums and memories written out for us to read of all the events that had taken place in her own & our loves. She showed us the drafted version of a book she had started writing called 3 score years & 10 & joked that she would need to add more years to the title as she hadn’t finished it as planned by the time she was 70! The list goes on.... I really can’t remember it all. She is truly amazing to have been doing all this whilst feeling so poorly. She had many letters, cards, phone calls & visits from dear friends in the final weeks. It was as if she knew her time was coming and she was prepared. She wasn’t scared for herself but was for all of us & my Dad & worried how we would all fair when she was gone, she was sad she still hadn’t finished everything in her life that she had wanted to nor perhaps seen all her grandchildren borne but she was ready and seemed prepared to meet her fate. She truly was an amazing Lady, completely selfless, dignified, loving, clever, funny and caring right up until the end. A loving loyal husband of one, mother of six, grandmother of twelve & friend too many. On Wednesday the 27th April she said what would be a final farewell to her only son Philip who had to travel back to his home in Sweden that afternoon with his wife & two young children. At around 1830 hrs she passed away at home holding the hand of her husband of very almost, 54 years and with three of her daughters with her. Rest in Peace, Sheila Doris Corkery nee Clitheroe, loved by many and who will never be forgotten.