Funeral Service Tribute
Eileen was born on 1st April 1929 in Woodford, London. She was the only child born to her parents Emily and Charlie.
She started her education in London but when she was only ten years old the Second World War broke out and a year later the blitz commenced. So young Eileen was evacuated with her Aunt, not far but out of harm’s way to Kent and the village of Chislehurst. But because it is only a little way South East of London there was still danger from the bombings. However, good use was made of the Chislehurst caves during the air raids. The caves are made up of 22 miles of tunnels where old flint mines used to be. Hundreds of people were sheltered down there, and Eileen recalled her time there very clearly. When she visited the caves again in 2001 with her grandson Gene who lived nearby she commented loudly amongst t he tour group “Ain’t changed much, it’s still as bloody cold now as it was back then”.
After the worst bombing had subsided Eileen returned to the family home and made it through the remainder of the war despite some close calls like the house two doors down from hers being bombed out.
Sadly, Eileen’s father passed when she was just five months old, so she spent a lot of time living with her grandparents who spoilt her rotten. Her grandfather used to leave her a penny on the table for her every day before she went to school. For that and many other reasons she doted on her granddad.
Eileen left school at fifteen and like many her age she went straight to work, something that she was keen to do by the way as school wasn’t really her thing. She then went on to do a variety of jobs, mainly in factories including Lesney’s who made matchbox model cars, Then later for Holward’s in Forest Gate who made catering equipment.
Not long after the war Eileen met George who would later become her first husband. In 1949 Eileen knew the joy of motherhood for the first time following the birth of her eldest daughter June, this was followed in 1950 by her son Tony, 1951 Eileen was born and finally Lee in 1957 to complete the family unit. They lived in Shelly, Essex which is the area in which all four children were born.
When her children were young Eileen was out to work a lot to make ends meet but they still have many fond memories of their mum and laugh about them to this day like talking to Mrs. Mac over the garden fence and the fact that she was a terrible cook. She used to boil vegetables for hours and this is something that she continued to do over the years. Her daughter Eileen can recall watching a Jamie Oliver programme where he said, “I’m going to teach you how to cook cabbage, not like my Nan used to, to Chernobyl and back!” and Eileen thought, “Yep that’s my mum”. More cooking tales in a bit!
Eileen and George separated in the late sixties so for a time she went it alone. But luckily a chance meeting with a chap called Richard but known as ‘Dick’ meant that she soon had a new love in her life. He was a plasterer by trade and also did some lorry driving so was able to put food on the table so to speak. They were very much in love and married in 1978 at West Ham Lane registry office in Stratford, East London.
They soon moved in together in a flat in Leytonstone and it is widely accepted that being with Dick was the best thing that ever happened to Eileen and she was very happy.
When they lived on Studley Road in Forest Gate they only had a small garden, but Eileen made it look beautiful with numerous roses planted and she made good use of the space by growing climbing roses that scaled the garden walls.
In the early 1980’s Eileen and Dick moved up to Norfolk and set up home on Vauxhall Terrace opposite the entrance to Northgate hospital where she would later work in the kitchens for a time.
The house was a large plot with room out the front for a caravan and their speedboat ‘Scooby Doo’ as well as a large front garden in addition to the toys which gave Eileen room to grow the most beautiful display of roses (especially red ones) chrysanthemums, carnations and gladioli, lots of them.
With the caravan they travelled literally form Land’s End to John O’Groats. They visited Scotland, Cornwall and the Lake District to name but a few. Coniston water was a particular favorite of Eileen’s.
Another place she liked to visit and did so several times was the Spalding annual flower show, with the tulips being the star of the show. She really enjoyed the carnival like procession of floats through the town, which were festooned with beautiful blooms. Eileen and Dick returned eight times or so with friends and family including Pat and George, June and Dave and Roy and June as well as the grandchildren.
After a few years Eileen and Dick bought a house on Admiralty Road, Great Yarmouth. They lived there happily until sadly Dick passed away in 1991. Her family has some amusing memories of events in that house which I will mention in a moment.
Eileen has been blessed with a large family all of whom she adored. She was lucky enough to have 15 grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren and 7 great, great grandchildren.
She was able to spend some quality time with them all and some of the older ones have some funny memories of their Nan. Like Paula who recalls going for Sunday lunch with Eileen and pork was on the menu, but Paula didn’t realise just how much meat she was going to get. Eileen decided not to carve the joint but instead just to cut it in half and plonk it on the two plates. On the cooking theme again, Gene can recall staying round at Eileen’s and getting up at about 9.30am on a Sunday and wondering what the smell was only to discover that it was the veg’ for dinner being boiled.
After she lost Dick in 1991 Eileen was a bit lost so Gene took her to Disneyland Paris to cheer her up. She was a huge Disney fan and loved all the old school animations like Beauty and the Beast and Pinocchio. Amusingly at one stage she complained that she couldn’t understand what people were saying as it was all in French.
In 1996 she visited Florida with Tony, Gene, Jack and Matthew and stayed in private villa in Kissimmee. She loved it there and went back a couple of times, all for the love of Disney and her family time
Back at home she liked to sit and knit and was very good at it. When her children were small she knitted them all scarves, jumpers etc. She taught her daughter Eileen to knit too.
She also liked watching her soaps to include Emmerdale Farm, Neighbours and of course Corrie being favourites. If she was away someone like her son Lee would be employed to ensure everything was taped. She loved to discuss the soaps with June on the telephone and everyone knew there was no point trying to call Eileen just after one of her programmes had been on, as they would be greeted with the engaged tone with Eileen and June nattering forever!
I mentioned earlier that Eileen had many grandchildren so now I would like to invite my friend and her grandson Dean (or Gene as you know him) to say a few words about his Grannie ….
Thanks for that Gene. So how do I sum up Eileen Harrison? Well she worked hard for her family, she loved her garden, loved to travel, she adored her lovely black Alsatian Beau and she enjoyed her life overall. She liked varied music and one song in particular made her smile and sing at the top of her voice so let’s pause now and listen to that song and while we do why not reflect on what Eileen meant to you.
We also give remembrance to Eileen’s son Tony, a much loved son, brother, father and uncle; Tony passed on October 8th 2008, his funeral was held on October 23rd 2008 and his Ashes have remained with Eileen until this very day, her wishes were that he be buried with Eileen, today Tony’s ashes are with Eileen and he will be interned with Eileen and Dick.
To Eileen her family was hugely important, and she would have been comforted enormously by having family members around her in her final days and even as she passed peacefully away on 20th September.
John Blackman