Our Sweet Lorraine
 
 
Did you know that was Lorraine’s fathers favourite singer & his favourite song?  So it wasn’t surprising that Lorraine was named after it. 
 
The name Lorraine means so much to you all.  The Wikipedia definition says: 
 
full of energy and kindness; always stands up for her friends and everyone loves her,
 
which for everyone who knew her, you know to be true.  It also went on to say she can swear a lot.  But as you know, Lorraine never ever swore…  That was until she was admitted to hospital early last October where in one short weekend, every other word was “F” which was so out of character for her & was so bittersweet funny, but she denied it ever since! 
 
Derek, Stacey & Natalie have been overwhelmed with the amount of cards they’ve received and sincerely moved by your kind words and messages which they have found great comfort in.  One recurring theme they picked up on was just how gracious and elegant Lorraine was.  Even for those who only met her once or twice, she made a lasting impression.
 
That all started when Lorraine worked in the stylish world of advertising in London in the swinging sixties.  Add to that the glamour of hairdressing with her own mother Eileen being one of the directors of Alan International who were one of the biggest independent hairdressers at that time.  Moving forwards into the eighties, Lorraine joined the more elegantly refined world of horse racing at the RCA and in the nineties went to United Racecourses. 
 
She worked for some very high profile people in her time, including the brother of Stephen Ward during the Profumo Scandal; high ranking Colonels; Brigadiers; Andrew Parker Bowles (as in ex-of) and even Royalty.  Some of her most treasured memories during her racing days was the time she was invited to join the Queen Mother for lunch,  But she never let it go to her head, because that was Lorraine; always discreet and refined.
 
But, before all of that, Lorraine was born in Kew on 20th July 1944 to Danny and Eileen Newson.  She lived her early life in Sandycombe Road, where she attended Gainsborough Road School For Girls along with her then best friend - Caroline. 
 
At the time, Caroline lived next door to a young chap called Derek and introduced them.   Lorraine and her father then moved to Marriner Gardens in Ham, and Lorraine and Derek’s relationship blossomed.  They enjoyed many days out to places like Hayling Island, then on holiday in Rimini in 1963, they got engaged.   Their wedding took place on 9th October, 1965 at Ham Church.
 
Lorraine and Derek then moved to a brand new maisonette in Ham.    They were there for 2 years before moving to a house on the London Road in Ashford Middlesex.  It wasn’t too long before they introduced a new member to their family – a little Labrador pup by the name of Oscar!  They’d only gone shopping for wheelbarrow, but Lorraine enjoyed visiting the pet department!  However, Oscar proved to be too much of a handful especially when he worked out how to open and liberate food from the fridge.  Reluctantly, they had to give him away.
 
July 1971 welcomed the first of their 2 daughters, Stacey to the world.  Then in 1975, Natalie arrived.  At this time, Danny was on a world cruise so Lorraine sent him a telegram advising him he had another grand daughter.    She received a reply which simply read – “don’t you like your new daughter?  Nat New: sounds like a Jewish book keeper!”
 
Their family now complete, they needed more space, so moved to King Edwards Road in Ascot.  This is where Natalie and Stacey say their fondest of childhood memories really started.
 
Their house was always full of love, laughter and many social gatherings.  Lorraine was an amazing cook, a fantastic hostess, entertaining many friends from Round Table, Ladies Circle, 41 Club, Inner Wheel, Rotary and even their own Posh Dinner Club.   Lorraine taught her girls the values of love, friendship and how to cook, saying to them, “even if you want to serve up beans on toast, it’s how you present it that counts.”   And to this day, it’s something that Stacey & Nats have both practiced.   
 
Although the girls didn’t go onto give Lorraine any grandchildren, they have always given her the “Mother” of all celebrations, whatever the occasion!   Christmas; birthdays; Mothers Day; Fathers Day & even Pancake Day, the latter of which became a tradition at Stacey’s. 
 
Stacey had used Lorraine’s special pancake recipe year after year after year.  Thee most perfect pancakes & guaranteed every time until about 9yrs back.  Stacey had been very organised and put the various flours into jars but didn’t do the sensible thing which was to label them.  Instead of using plain flour, she’d used icing sugar!  But, Lorraine was the one who figured it out & soon had everything under control.
 
Family holidays were always extremely special, going to some amazing destinations, taking in many theme parks along the way, even though Lorraine wasn’t a fan of the roller coasters.  One such occasion was at Disneyworld, queuing for Space Mountain.  She dutifully saw Derek, Stacey and Natalie off in one queue for the ride before joining another queue which she thought was the exit.  It was only when she got to the front she realised she was the queue for the other carriage in the same ride!   She couldn’t get out quick enough!  Then there was another time at Busch Gardens in Florida - the Mamba Ride.  She did a lot of swearing apparently, although Stacey and Natalie were too young to understand it at the time!    
 
As the girls got older, beach holidays became more of the norm.  In 1989 whilst on a joint family holiday to Cyprus with the Steve, Mia, Laura & Evie, Stacey and Natalie decided to have a go at paragliding.  Lorraine enquired about their whereabouts only for Laura & Evie to say “I think that’s one of them up there!”  Stacey landed successfully; Natalie not so much, and there followed a few choice words from Lorraine to Derek demanding he get down there to sort it out! 
 
Moving forwards, and into retired life, a lot of her fond memories were spent in Majorca at Roca Marina then in later years, Porta Golf.  These were a lot more sedate as by then the adventurous roller coasters had been swapped for the local wine & cuisine.  On the rare occasion where Lorraine ended up with a sore head the morning after; it was never the alcohol that caused it, but always a dodgy prawn she’d eaten!
 
Then there were many a magical trip away with Mia & Steve to places like Lake Garda, Lake Como, the Norwegian Fjords, Poland; France and Belgium.   Lorraine used to join her father Danny on many cruises he worked on in the 1970s, so it was fitting that Lorraine & Derek did 2 more; where they discovered Madeira which became one of their favourite destinations.
 
Lorraine also enjoyed many girlie trips away with Stacey & Natalie.  Although they didn’t allow her to go back to Champneys by herself after the time where she forgot to pack any underwear!  Lorraine & Stacey did Dubai and Abu Dhabi where each time she bumped into old associates of the Jockey Club.   And then there were many glorious trips to Boston when Natalie was working over there.  Those were always full-on shopping, seafood and cocktail tours of the various establishments Natalie knew.  On one trip, Lorraine & Stacey were upgraded to First Class on the flight home where the crew treated her like royalty.   And the last time they all did Boston, it was for Mother’s Day in March 2015.  Boston had experienced a record amount of snow that particular year.  The girls fondly recall Lorraine looking out the snow-clad windows of the upper deck saying “I hope the pilot can see where he’s going!!”
 
There have been so many precious moments, too many to mention.  But perhaps one of the most special and recent events was Nats wedding to Lea.  Naturally, this involved many shopping trips to find her mother-of-the-bride outfit, including an impromptu shopping trip to Kingston just to find Derek a pair of socks.  They cost £22 - but they were designer!   Needless to say, they never let onto Derek “oww much??”   The girls shipping trips just won’t be the same without her.