Rose Myers

My mother was born in the East End of London on 23 February 1927. She had two elder brothers, Joe and Raphael. Her mother Millie was also from London, her father was a carpenter who escaped the pogroms of Russia in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, her father passed away when my mother was about eight years old and this caused financial struggles for the family. She was academically bright and achieved a scholarship to attend Raine’s Foundation Grammar School which she enjoyed and excelled at.

stories of nights spent sleeping in the local Tube station

In 1940 my mother was evacuated to the West Country along with most children due to the Blitz. She hated being away from her mother and was quickly brought back to London. She happily told stories of nights spent sleeping in the local Tube station and not knowing each morning whether your house or your neighbour’s had survived the previous night’s bombing.

The financial needs of the family meant that she had to leave school at sixteen and start to earn money. She very much regretted not achieving school qualifications or going to University and went to a number of evening classes later in life. My mother studied and passed shorthand and typing exams. She started work in 1943 as a secretary at Associated British Cinemas and then in 1946 as a PA in the Army Kinema Corporation.

the Kosher Fishmongers in Bell Lane

In 1950, she met my father Harry at a wedding and within weeks they were engaged and within months married. They were devoted to each other. In 1954 my brother Leslie was born and I followed in 1959. After living in West Hendon for a few years they moved to Green Lane, Hendon. This was opposite the Kosher Fishmongers in Bell Lane that my father ran initially with his brother Ben. Following Ben’s sudden death his wife Maisie took his place in the business.

My father tragically passed in 1967 on their seventeenth wedding anniversary, three weeks from my brother’s Bar Mitzvah and when I was eight years old. My mother never remarried. She dedicated herself to successfully bringing up her two boys with much love. For work she joined her sister-in-law Maisie in the fish shop which they ran together for the next ten years. Her strength of character and determination to work and bring up children as a widow was exemplary.

In the early 1980s my mother moved to the Pinner/Hatch End area where she remained until six months ago. She worked first at Remploy and then for Brent Council as a secretary/admin assistant. She had many friends from school, evening classes, social groups and U3A. Culturally she enjoyed visiting art galleries, orchestra concerts, opera and theatre plays. An avid reader, my mother read a library book a week up until last year. She kept her mind alert by watching Countdown daily. She loved to travel and with friends visiting the USA, Canada, and many European Countries. She was also able to enjoy many cruises.

she loved Seder night

Mum was a fantastic cook. She made amazing cakes. She loved cooking for each of the Yom Tovim. Her favourite was Pesach and she loved Seder night. Years ago about all you could buy was Kosher for Pesach matzo and matzo meal. So she would make everything from scratch using basic ingredients to bake cinnamon balls, macaroons and potato flour cakes. Every page of the Evelyn Rose Pesach cook book was well thumbed. I remember her crying her eyes out as she grated raw horseradish sticks. She always made the food the hard way because like everything she wanted to do it “properly”.

More recently, as her health deteriorated following two falls, my mother moved into residential care in Hatch End. She was happy there. The carers really loved her, they all said how polite, kind and thankful she was about everything they did for her. She found peace there. My mother had many health scares over the years including skin cancer, pneumonia twice and Covid three times. The doctors at times couldn’t understand how she survived but her inner strength always willed her on to keep living to a very old age. She would have been ninety eight years old in February.

Unfortunately, in June of 2024 she was taken to A&E for a routine head scan and was negligently allowed to fall from a trolley. Multiple broken bones and a head wound left her in hospital for three months and then bedbound needing twenty-four hour care in a nursing home. Although at times she remained very chatty, she was in pain and on heavy medication. Her passing is a release from this pain.

achieve and be happy

Most of all my mother loved family. She encouraged Leslie and I to achieve and be happy. She loved to hear about the progress of her grandchildren Lara, Sam and Matthew, what they were doing and where they had travelled in the world. She could not believe that she was old enough to have great grandchildren, Elia and Luca and I remember vividly she was so joyful when on one occasion Leslie, Caroline, Lara, Elia, Luca and myself had tea with her in the care home garden on a bright summer’s day. She loved seeing the family and was so happy when she had any other visitors as well. When I saw her recently and showed her pictures of Elia and Luca she kept repeating, “What a beautiful girl” and “What a handsome boy” over and over.

Finally, a special thank you to my brother Leslie who cared and looked after my mother so well while Caroline and I were working abroad and following the sad loss of his wife Judith. He was kind and caring. My mother and Leslie had a very special bond.