Wife to Dave; Mum to Belinda and Simon; Mother-in-Law to Eric, Danni and to Steph; Gran to Jake, Oliver and Jessie; a Sister; a Sister-in-Law; and a dear extremely thoughtful Friend to many people.
‘Celebrating Jackie’s Life’
Born to parents Eric and Maragret Newton on the 4th May 1957, the last day Aston Villa won the FA cup, Jackie was born in Coleshill but brought up in Marston Green where she went to school until she was 11 years old. The family moved to Blackpool where she attended Claremont Girls High School. She became a Blackpool F.C. supporter and attended the games for years. She still looked for their result every Saturday.
After leaving school the young Jackie briefly worked for an Electrical Wholesale Distributor before joining Williams and Glyn Bank in 1974. And it was while working at the Bank in a small office of three staff in North Shore Blackpool that Jackie met Dave. In fact, he was her boss and part of his job was to do her appraisals. The first one he did read. "We have tried Jackie in most positions within the branch but have found she performs best on the counter." Spot on as Jackie was a total people person and loved chatting to people & dealing with customers.
The rest as they say is history and they married at Kirkham Parish Church on the 23rd April 1977. They both chose that day as it was St Georges Day. They were both very patriotic, but Jackie always maintained that it would urge Dave to always remember their anniversary! And while Jackie was quite quiet and private, Dave may have been the boss at work, but she was definitely the boss at home! Their first home which they bought together was a newly built Wimpey house in Carleton ,Poulton Le Fylde and Belinda was born whilst they lived there. Some 7 years later Dave was transferred to Runcorn but Jackie had no intention of living there as the rumour was it was that bad that even the alsatians moved around in twos!. So they compromised & bought a property in a lovely village called Hartford just outside Northwich within easy commuting distance of Runcorn. Simon was born in Leighton Hospital Crewe whilst they were there.
The move to Burscough came in 1988 and they’ve spent 36 happy years there.
Jackie would always say as you left to go home, ‘Mind how you go’! It was her saying, and she said it to her daughter and son and it stuck because she also said it to the three grandsons an even said it to herself! She enjoyed F1, Nigel Mansell was her favourite, and went to the British Grand Prix. She also drove round the Monaco circuit whilst on holiday in the family Renault Laguna.
She gave up work to be a stay at home Mum when Belinda was born and would pick her children up from school every day. They would also go to the shop every night to buy chocolate and then weigh the Kinder Eggs to see how heavy they were and to guess what was inside them! Friday evenings were always rent a game or video. Special times and special memories.
She told us all of great memories of holidays whilst growing up were spent invariably in a caravan with her family at Dawlish Warren and never went abroad until she got married. Unbelievably she never had the opportunity to go in aeroplane as Dave had a phobia about flying.
So it was driving to France every year when Jackie would cram the car to the rafters. She drove only one once with Belinda to go to the boulangerie one morning for bread but they found themselves on the wrong side of the road with traffic coming towards them! She loved the trips to Paris and Disneyland with her family and she wasn't a one to go on the scary rides with her children. Later there were further drives all over Europe including Cadiz, Gibraltar, Italy, Holland and Ireland. She also loved the vibrancy of the street cafes in Barcelona, just sitting with a coffee and watching the world go by. There were two cruises. One for their 40th wedding anniversary, Jackie's 60th, and Daves 70th, they did a memorable Cruise to the Baltic including visiting to St Petersberg. She loved it so much that this was quickly followed a year or so later by another one to Germany and the Keil Canal.
She also loved markets and went by car one pre Christmas to Valkenberg and another year by train to Cologne and the Rhine Valley but always said that the best market was BURY Lancashire
Jackie enjoyed crafting and making all their Christmas cards.Her favourites in music included hits of the 60s and 70s and Tambla Motown. She was a Girl Guide Leader at St John's Burscough. When Simon played for Burscough Dynamo she did the Subs, Admin, and frequently washed the team kit! This was a revisited chore as when Dave and several guys here today played for Ansdell Institute around the time they got married, Jackie washed their kit in a Hotpoint Twin Tub.Many here today may well remember them before automatic washing machines took over.
And of course, we have to mention Crown Green Bowls at Burscough Bowling Club along with Dave. It played a big part on their lives. Jackie started by watching Dave and then progressed to scoring before moving on to making the brews and playing. She ended up Captain of Burscough Terriers and they did rather well.. Just over a year ago she was also the Captain of the Seniors Team N.B. almost exclusively made up of men as no one would take it over, so she did.And although she was quite quiet, she was certainly not backward about coming forward would oftenspeak out at times, but in jest. Like the times she rebuked ‘Mr Grumpy’ for swearing in her company! She gave as good as she got and they all respected her for it. The team finished halfway up the Premier League and she was most upset to learn that the team this season had been relegated
As we said earlier, Jackie was a people person and someone who always thought of others before herself. When grandchildren came along she did the school pickups for them and would always send them home with a piece of flapjack. There are also some memorable images of Jackie, like when she ran the Preston half marathon and decided to calmly have a cigarette on the start line! Jackie and Dave supported Simon in his running when he competed in the London Marathon and also the Great North Run which he did 14 times. It was a logistical nightmare but she loved going up to North East and soaking up the atmosphere.
She was a very respectful person and would never miss the service at the Cenotaph wearing her Poppy with pride.She also sold poppies for the British Legion around Remembrance Sunday.
But she knew what she liked, especially David Ginola who she had a thing for!!! when he played for Newcastle.
However her biggest love was that of her family who she brought up to respect traditional values. She loved spending quality time with her three grandsons and they will miss her terribly !
She leaves a massive void in all our lives but she also leaves many wonderful memories that will live on in each and every one of us for the rest of our days.
Delivered beautifully by Paul Griffiths -Celibrant
