Kathleen Grace Cook

Kath was born to Rose and Francis Blake on Monday 20th September 1920 at 42 Fotheringham Road, Enfield.  She was the second of six children. Kath’s family moved the the cottage opposite Whitewebbs Park when she was a young child and she looked back fondly on an idylic childhood.

When the second world war broke out Kath became a Radio Intercepter in the Army Territorial Service (ATS). Kath was posted to Beaumanor Hall which was connected to Bletchley Park and only after several years was the work she was part of, recognised and talked about.

Kath met her future husband, Walter Cook, during the war and they were married in December 1945.  The next year they moved to Australia to start their married life.  Here they had three children, Terry, Elaine and Beverly.

In 1956 the family returned to England for two years which turned out to be many decades longer.  They bought their house in Manor Road in 1959 and Kath has lived there ever since.

Kath’s family grew when she had three grandchildren and several great grandchildren over the years.

Kath lived to be almost 101 years old.  She was a loving mother, grandmother, great grandmother, friend and much more to many people. She will be greatly missed.

If you wish to make a donation in Kathleen’s Name please consider the following links:

North London Hospice

British Legion

Click here to view the Order of Service

The Live Streams

The Service

The Pied Bull

Family Tribute

·      Kathleen known by most people as Kath or Kathy was born 20th September 1920 to Rose and Francis (known as Frank) Blake. When she came into the world she had a big sister called Audrey. They were living in the upstairs part of a 3 bedroom house at 42 Fotheringham Road, Enfield. Kath’s parents were very loving and caring , and we assume patient because by the time they moved from Fotheringham Road, Kath had been blessed with two brothers, Dennis and Raymond and another sister, Sheila.  A family of 7 in 3 small rooms! (Poor neighbours!)

·      Kath began her education at George Spicer School but not long after, the family moved to a cottage at Whitewebbs Farm which had 3 bedrooms and loads of outside space and it was here, her youngest brother, Alan, was born. 

·      Kath’s new school, St. John’s Church of England school, is just along the road from this church.  It was a very small school and before long she and three siblings were all attending.  If you know the area, the cottage where lived is on the farmland directly opposite the main entrance to Whitewebbs park.  The walk to school was just over a mile and a half.  Some days they were lucky enough to be allowed, by the gentry, to go through the grounds of Whitewebbs to Flash Lane which made the walk slightly shorter. Some days, when they were really, really lucky, the farmer would come along with his horse and cart and they were allowed to jump on for a lift to school! The story was often told of  Mrs Harkness, the wife of the school caretaker at the time, who would regularly bake 6 small cottage loaves, and give them to the children.

·      Things were not easy for the family and they all had chores to do which was just a way of life for them. Kath’s dad  had served in the first world war where he had learnt the skill of butchering, so they were never short of fresh meat, and her mum was the homemaker who made sure the family never went without.  It was usual for the children to help with the cooking, baking and growing fruit and vegetables. This could be where she gained her love of gardening.  Kath often looked back and said what a hard life it had been for her mum and dad but how happy her childhood had been.

Kath’s children grew up hearing stories of  how much fun they had growing up but she was not so forthcoming with some of the things they got up to.  When talking to her brother Dennis a few years ago, they mentioned the Chapel in Whitewebbs Road where they  went to Sunday School…well that’s what Kath had told them, but Dennis responded with a chuckle  “well that’s where mum and dad thought we were…”  They weren’t all angels all the time!

·      Kath and the other children helped the farmer with haymaking and with the horses and at weekends they ran a tea room and ice-cream stall for passers by.  It seemed hard to believe until the photos came out.

·      Kath was very shy when she was young, so much so, that she deliberately failed her high school exam because she didn’t want to go to another school.  Her teacher was aware of this and let her know she knew but Kath had no regrets.

·      When Kath left school she went into service with a local family for a time until her family moved to Lavender Hill,  still in Enfield.  Kath then worked in Kilbies, a grocery shop in Lancaster Road where she gained her love of shop work (which was to come in useful later). 

·      Then the war came along.  Audrey, mum’s older sister was married with a baby by this time, Alan was too young to serve in the forces but the other four all went into the services.  Dennis and Raymond into the RAF, Sheila was a WREN and Kath went into the ATS.  Still being very shy, Kath didn’t want to go far from home so requested to work in the stores. However after being assessed she was told she was ‘too clever’ for that and was given the role of Radio Intercepter.  She went to the Isle of Man for training and was then posted to Beaumanor near Loughborough where she intercepted German messages and they were passed to the now famous Bletchley Park, where they were decoded.  Kath wasn’t allowed to talk about what she did in the war and their role was not acknowledged till many years later when Bletchley Park and its outstations were credited with reducing the length of the war by some two to four years. This was when she finally received a special medal and commendation from the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

·      During the war Kath’s parents offered a place to stay for Australian airmen when off duty. This is how Kath met her husband Walter. They were married here, in this church, at the end of the war in December 1945 and she moved to live in Australia in 1946.

·      Kath was welcomed to Australia by Walter’s family.  Sisters Ivy and Edna and brother Arthur and their partners and she made some very good friends.  Kath loved her new nieces and nephews and after a few years she had her own children. Terry, Elaine and Beverly.   After 10 years Kath and Walter returned to England with their children. The Australians were left behind, but not for good.  The nieces and nephews have been very visible in Kath’s life. They have visited her in the England, she has been back to Australia to see them and she has travelled widely to stay with them in places like China and Switzerland.  Some of the children of those nieces, nephews and friends have also stayed with Kath in Manor Road.

·      In 1956 Kath and Wal lived with Rose and Frank for the couple of years they were meant to be in England before returning to Australia.  Then the plans were changed and they bought the house in Manor Road where Kath lived for the next 63 years and made many good friends amongst her neighbours, keeping in touch even when they moved away.

·      Kath spent a lot of time with her family on her return to England . There were many family occasions and her children particularly remember many happy Sunday afternoons at Epping Forest  or Hilly Fields where the whole extended family would meet to picnic and play cricket.  And in winter the sledging!

·      Sadly Walter died in 1978 at only 68 years old leaving Kath a widow.

·      Kath had a few jobs over the years. She was a dinner lady, she worked in a printers and then worked at Thorns on the A10 for about nine years.  I think Thorns may have regretted allowing her to join their pension scheme.  It was laughed about in the family when we pointed out she paid in for 9 years and received a pension from them for 40 years!!

·      After retirement Kath joined a couple of clubs for socialising and holidays. She became keeper of the register at one and if anyone didn’t attend because they were ill, Kath would follow up to make sure they were being looked after and would visit them, often with a pot plant. The garden centres made a fortune out of Kath’s kindness

·      Being retired also gave Kath the opportunity to do the things she enjoyed. She loved her garden and enjoyed evenings out with friends, especially the ‘Ladies Nights’ where she looked very glamourous.  She went on numerous holidays with her clubs and her friends.

·      Kath loved her grandchildren, Lara, Ryan and Anna and often looked after them. We have photos of them covered in pigeons in Trafalgar Square, doing the London site seeing and days out at the seaside but they were happy enough just to walk along the river with her or play in the park.  She was also a very proud great grandmother to Danielle, Jake and Oran, Daniel and Ella as well as new baby Oliver, Emily, George and Courtney and loved being with all of them.

·      Kath was well known for riding her bike until her late 70s and as mentioned earlier she had a  love of shop work. Her father had started a business several years earlier which had passed to his sons and finally to Terry, Kath’s son. They had a DIY and hardware shop on Chase Side where Kath worked until she was 80 years old.

·      At 84 Kath was diagnosed with cancer. With treatment she did well but was diagnosed again when she was 86.  She had survived once she was going to do it again, and she did.  She had another brush with death a year or so later and came back from that too. She was a very strong and determined lady.

·      In 2015 Kath’s war service crept up on her again. She had several brushes with royalty and in 2015 she was invited to take part in the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war. She attended a service at Westminster Abbey, was walked down The Mall with other veterans and Prince Charles took the salute at Horseguards Parade. The streets were packed with people applauding them. Afterwards, she was invited for refreshments with the Prince and Camilla in a marquee in St. James’s park. There was a party atmosphere and her children will never forget the outpouring of thanks from dozens of people from across the world who stopped to thank Kath personally, have ‘selfies’ taken with her and ask for autographs.

·      There were many people in Kath’s life that were special. Family, friends, neighbours, too many to mention individually but Kath appreciated everyone and tried to maintain contact even if it was just a Christmas card…and there were many!

·      Kath maintained reasonable health after that but was getting a little frail and had carers going in to help with some chores until July 2020 when the family suggested she should have a live in carer.  Kath always appreciated what the live-in carers did for her but it wasn’t until earlier this year that Agnes and Angela took on the role between them. Kath took to them immediately and built friendships with them and the family felt confident  and  happy leaving mum in their care. Kath’s sense of humour never failed her and there was lots of laughter in her final days.

·      It was this wonderful care that allowed the family to be able to give Kath the end that she had asked for. She wanted to be in her own home and although there were some rough times, with the support of Angela, the nurses from the North London Hospice and the district nurses she passed away peacefully in the manner she had chosen.

·      Kath lived a very full life. Like all of us, she had her troubles. But she was cheerful, resilient and always kind, with a sharp sense of humour that stayed with her till the end.  She will be remembered with love and smiles.

Lara’s Memories

Our Nanna was an extraordinary Nanna. She was a Nanna for nearly 49 years, nearly half of her life, and I think she loved every minute of it because she did it so well.

Trying to tell you about half a century of Nanna-hood in the next few minutes won’t even scratch the surface, but I’ll give it a go.

Ryan and I spent a lot of time with Nanna when we were young. We often stayed over on a Friday night, which would start with Terry bringing us each a massive bag of penny sweets (and this was when you got two shrimps for ha’penny and 5 flying saucers for a penny), how she managed to get us to sleep, I’ll never know. Come Saturday morning, we’d wander into town to Woolworth’s deli counter where she’d buy a few slices of ham for us and a quarter of tongue for herself. She really enjoyed tongue, so much so she never insisted we try it, unlike brussels sprouts. After Woolworth’s, we’d go to the bakers and pick up a freshly baked loaf of bread, were Ryan and I would fight over who got to carry it home, and therefore, who got to pick at the warm crust on the way home. Nanna knew this would happen and would pretend to be cross about it every time. She was able to turn an ordinary day into an adventure and we spent many a day exploring places like Forty Hall and Hilly Fields with nothing but a picnic, a flask of tea and a football to keep us occupied. She would spend hours looking for good conkers, even when we weren’t with her!

We would wander along the river, feed every duck and cross every bridge. She would point out unusual houses and tell stories of people she used to know who had lived there. She loved looking at Gentlemen’s Row and made me love it too. Sometimes a trip out would consist of nothing more than a visit to the grocer’s and popping into ‘the shop’ on Chase Side. We would visit Uncle Ray and sit in the office, perilously close to the gas fire, have a chat and be given something interesting to look at or play with. That shop played a part in the lives of so many of us, including Nanna.

She also loved nature and got so much joy from the first snowdrop and made sure we got to see the crocuses on the town green every spring, a riot of purple and yellow. She passed this joy onto me and I always have and always will think of her when I see my first snowdrop of the year. She loved a bulb too, an amaryllis or a hyacinth, watching them grow and flower would bring her so much pleasure and she’d take photos and show us proudly when we visited. She loved the bluebells at Forty Hall and one of her favourite photos of my wedding was of John and I lying in a field of bluebells. Sounds a bit naff, said out loud!

Talking of photos, she always had a camera on her. It’s because of her love of recording everyday events and the unusual, that there is a photo of me having a sulk next to a banana tree in Australia and Ryan and I pretending we were lost in Hampton Court Maze, loads of photos of us covered in pigeons. Talking of pigeons, Nanna took us into London a lot and no visit was complete without a quick stop at Trafalgar Square to buy bird seed and feed the pigeons. She certainly knew how to make the most of her bus pass, like her pension…… she had the bus pass and it cost 10p for Ryan and I on the bus. We’d get the bus to Oakwood and then travel into London. It’s thanks to her that we learnt to read a tube map and a bus timetable at a very young age and I know to carry my money in my glove in case my bag gets stolen. And she would keep us busy with games as we travelled and indulge Ryan in his need to close his eyes as we went through Arsenal station…..

We would often spend New Year’s Eve with her and she would wake us up just before midnight and let us have a small tankard of fizzy drink to toast in the New Year. And I do mean a small tankard……One year she bought indoor fireworks to light. Yes, you heard right, indoor fireworks. This did have the potential to end badly, thankfully it didn’t.

One of her gifts was to remember things about people. She would remember your favourite biscuit and make sure she had them in when you visited – I know a few of us were fond of toffeepops. If you said you particularly liked something she made, she’d make it for you every time she saw you, she made a great apple pie and there was one particular recipe that goes down in family legend. Rice krispie squares. Unfortunately, the recipe has been lost but we live in hope that we will find it one day amongst her papers and notes. She made sponge cakes that were whisked by hand and she always let us lick the spoon, she dried out the wishbone from chickens and made you feel so special when you were allowed to pull it, she always made a Christmas Cake and let us decorate it, you’ve never seen so many cake ornaments on top of a cake…

And Christmas, the traditions she instilled in us….putting up the Christmas tree, again not minding where we put the decorations, getting the nativity set out each year and letting us arrange it, having Christmas dinner at her house, all squashed round her table – putting George on the children’s table, getting so much pleasure from watching us open our presents.

Nanna was incredibly thoughtful and would try to get you the exact right thing and she would remember little things you’d talked about. With a name like mine in the seventies, I could never find anything, a pencil, a magnet, a purse, with my name on, I would look at the stands of named items forlornly, hoping that one day I might spot something. Nanna found a jewellery box for me, with the little twirling ballerina in, that played ‘Lara’s Theme’ from Dr. Zhivago, when my family emigrated to Australia, she had a necklace made for me with my name on (it was the fashion too). She would cut clippings from newspapers about subjects she thought you would be interested in, she would keep tokens from parties and events and present them to you years later, she always remembered birthdays and the names of people’s children and grandchildren. She’d remember all your news and ailments and ask after you and your family. We could never walk down the road without seeing somebody she knew. She was a prolific letter writer and sometimes, you’d get a note just because she’d thought about you and wanted to let you know. And she always sent a thank you note. Her manners were impeccable. She kept in touch with so many people, over decades. And she would write into radio shows, as was the thing back then, to see if anybody knew where she could locate certain items, the most memorable of which was a game called Pit. Amazon describes it as ‘frenzied card swapping fun, shout and swap cards’. And it was frenzied and it was fun and there was a lot of shouting….. I believe that somewhere, there is a recording…… And, of course, there’s our favourite family came of DONKEY, some of you may know it as spoons, she loved to play or just watch the fight, I mean fun.

If she could help somebody, she would. She collected milk bottle tops for the blind and used stamps. But she always checked first that they’d been postmarked. If they hadn’t, she’d steam them off to use again. As most people who had lived through the war were, she was frugal, the original environmentally friendly generation. Our Saturday shopping trips involved a string bag, not a plastic bag to be seen. She taught me how to unwrap a present so I could use the wrapping paper again. She kept so many things in case they came in handy. Her bureau was an Aladdin’s cave of magical things, receipt rolls, carbon paper, the old printer paper with the holes down the side, bits of string, various types of tape and pens and pencils and odd shaped pencil sharpeners. And she’d let you use it to fuel your imagination and give you the time and space to play.

And she kept just about everything we ever made. One year, when I was in my thirties, she presented me with a ‘camera’ I had made out of an Easter Egg box when I was ten. Where she kept these things, we don’t really know, but suspect she was climbing the ladder to the loft well into her eighties! Around that time, she also gave me a box of pebbles and shells we had collected together. On the Great Barrier Reef. When I was 7. Obviously, this was before excess baggage charges were invented!

Nanna would often tell us tales of her childhood, it always sounded idyllic and a bit Walton-esque, even if it was hard and there weren’t many luxuries. She really did walk three miles to school and back in waist-high snow. She loved watching it snow. It was her that first pointed out to me how the world becomes muffled and quiet just before it starts to snow. But she didn’t have much time for modern snow, she wanted to see proper snow, falling flakes the size of fists.

Many of her tales were told to warn us about the dangers of certain behaviours. And she always knew somebody who had that thing happen to them. I remember one particularly gross warning that involved Diane, poor Diane, the things she went trough as a child, just so that we didn’t do it in the future! And Uncle Ray was a also a favourite protagonist. I never thought to question how Uncle Ray was still alive, despite cutting an orange the wrong way and choking on the pips!

I have so many wonderful memories of Nanna, and more come back to me every day. As I wrote this, more came flooding in, going to the pantomime every year, ‘He’s behind you’ ‘Oh no he’s not’. It’s because of Nanna I have been able to teach my own children Pantomime etiquette. I remember going to the cinema to see Bambi, going in in daylight and coming out in the dark, thinking we were the luckiest children in the world because we got to share a box of maltesers. She was kind and compassionate, she had a massive heart. She was the sort of Nanna who let you slide down banisters and snuck you a piece of chocolate when your parents said no, she’d toast a ham and cheese spread sandwich just the way you liked it and stop to listen to the snap, crackle and pop of rice krispies. She’d race you in the park and turn an ordinary day into a special memory. She’d find the joy in simple things and infect us with her enthusiasm, she made us feel special and she got so much joy from just seeing us. She gave us time. Time to adventure, time to play, time to be. In later years, she was always happy to see us and a short visit really did make her day.

She taught us to respect her generation, she was our living history. She would attend a remembrance parade every year, wearing her medals and, recently, I was honoured to have her attend the remembrance service at my church. One year, concerned she wouldn’t be able to stand for too long, I took a camping chair for her to sit on at the war memorial. I had not thought about how she would get up out of the camping chair. Last year, my poor mum got the job of pushing Nanna’s wheelchair uphill, over uneven grass from the car park to the war memorial. Luckily, they set off in plenty of time!

 For a long time, we were extremely lucky to be a four generation family and I will always be grateful that I knew this amazing lady, who had seen so much change and hardship in her lifetime, for so much of mine. She had such a capacity to bring joy into our lives. Our Nanna.