JILL
Born 3rd Aug 1942 to Edith and James Chapman, who had moved from Colchester to their home in Luton’s Bristol Road with Queenie, their firstborn and Jill’s oldest sister.
In Luton, siblings Eric, Jim and Jean followed. Jill was the youngest by 11 years (Queenie was 23 when Jill was born). Although she missed out to an extent on the early memories that her older siblings had, it meant that she was able to spend precious years with her own beloved mum after others had moved out. Not that any of them stayed away from the family home for long, and all lived locally.
Jill would follow her mum around the house, regularly untying her mum’s apron strings so that it would keep falling to the floor! For Jill, as for her own daughters Jacqueline and Sara-Jane, her mum was the centre of her universe. They were incredibly close.
It was her mum who had to prize away from her – while she slept one 1940’s Christmas Eve – the soft, brown, ready-to-pluck chicken that she’d decided never to part with and dragged up to bed with her despite the family’ protestations.
A favourite memory for all three Chapman sisters was their annual trip to London, with their mother, to buy winter coats. They all shared a wonderful and infectious sense of humour, but Jill would say that it was generally Queenie who would send them all off into hysterics… the kind of laughter that you have to stop for, cross your legs over, while dabbing your eyes and fearing that you’ll not regain any composure.
Jill was close to all her siblings, but especially to Jean, her closest in age and a best friend and confidante as well. Many of Jacqueline and Sara-Jane’s favourite memories are from weekend visits to see their Auntie Jean and cousin Susan, as it’s where they saw their mum at her most relaxed and happy. So much laughter and love.
When Jean and Susan visited Flitwick the day would inevitably end with Jill and the girls waving at the two of them running up The Avenue to catch a train they’d left it too late to catch, such was the lure of ‘another cup of tea’!
Jill idolised her brother Eric, who had endless patience when helping her with her maths homework and who set up her own early blueprint for ‘what every man should be (and look like!)’!
Equally handsome and good-natured was her brother Jim who taught her what he knew about nature, especially birds and garden wildlife. Both brothers happily – maybe even proudly – took their little sister to Luton Town matches with them and her love of the Hatters lasted; a loyalty to the team that she shared with Jim and Audrey’s son Peter (her nephew) and her youngest grandson Hugh.
Jill had extremely fond memories of her nephew Peter and her niece, his sister, Linda. Linda was born when Jill was just 9, which made them extra close. Terry and Robert were born to Eric and Violet and, as with all of her nieces and nephews, the young Jill saw them regularly as they visited their beloved Grandma Chapman.
Queenie’s husband Ted had a car! They would take Edith and James and the young Jill on runs out to local pubs where, rather than ask for a still orange (Jill’s) and a Damson Cream (Edith’s), Jill’s dad would get brain fog every time and ask for a sticky orange and a Dalmatian Sauce. Other annual destinations were Hitchin and the rhododendrons at Woburn.
Her love for, and knowledge about, nature increased as she devoured the “Out with Romany” book series, a series she shared with her daughters who loved them being read aloud at bedtime. Jill had a perfect voice for reading bedtime stories. And something else so precious and beautiful is that she enjoyed reading them as much as her girls enjoyed listening, always giving into the demands for one more chapter.
A favourite read was The Little Wooden Horse by Ursula Moray Williams and the words ‘trundled’ and ‘clinking’ will always transport those grateful listeners back to that special time that took place every single evening without fail.
She passed her 11+ and which meant that her formative years at the school in Dallow Road was followed by Luton High School for Girls where she especially enjoyed English, Drama and French. She didn’t lose her ability with French even though she didn’t get the chance to use it much and she taught her children several French songs, including the classic Le chat à la promenade, et voila ce qu'il dit, il dit!
She had many funny anecdotes about the school ma'amish teachers at the High School, all old maids apart from her favourite, the young Drama teacher Miss Brown who insisted the class all called her Gladys. She also admired the headmistress Mrs Evans. At the front of your order of services you’ll see the school motto, from Philippians, that Jill held very dear and on the back cover, the school hymn that she also loved.
She also enjoyed the cycling to and from, especially riding fast through puddles and lifting her legs out the way.
She left school at 16 with a good range of O’ level passes and attended Luton Tech college to train in Pitman’s shorthand (something else she never forgot) and secretarial tasks such as touch typing. Jacqueline remembers a colleague at Wallspan in Flitwick, thirty years on, commenting “You’re like mustard on that keyboard Jill!”
Her talents at that place of work (1980-1995) were to see her move from the typing pool, to being the PA to the chairman and the board of directors. She considered her time spent at Wallspan in Flitwick to have been her happiest: she loved a professional, busy environment and made close friends there, among whom we’re sure Jill would want us to mention Val especially.
But back to finishing college. From there she went to work at George Kents in Luton, where she met her best and closest friend Pauline. A friendship that grew ever closer over the sixty plus years that they knew each other. Bridesmaids at each other’s weddings and having children at similar times too and a shared passion for Tom Jones.
Pauline recently shared a memory she has of the Kents’ ‘Christmas do’ in 1962 (Jill would have been 20) where the two of them plucked up the courage to get up on stage and sing a Frank Ifield song (NB: this was PRE-Tom Jones!): I Remember You. It was a big hit for him at the time. They put everything they had into it, only trouble was the microphone wasn’t working. They sung their hearts out but were the only two people who knew how brilliant they’d been! Pauline says they saw the funny side and added, touchingly, that she wished she had a photo because Jill looked absolutely beautiful.
From Kents to Vauxhall Motors where she worked as a secretary to Gwyn Hughes who was editor of the Bedford Transport Magazine in the PR department. More importantly it was here that Gillian Chapman met Peter Davies... over the photocopier! Her mum Edith approved of the match, impressed that Peter settled in so quickly on his first visit for a cup of tea, and Jill was impressed with the Malteasers he bought on their date at the pictures.
From then onwards commercial transport in all its makes, not just Bedfords, was to dominate her life. Especially the ‘eight-leggers’. Decades of typing up Peter’s articles and books made her a lorry expert… probably second only in knowledge to the man himself! In the 1960s, she was also a member of the CVRTC’s founding team... resuming her hands-on involvement in recent years as the club’s treasurer. (Commercial Vehicle and Road Transport Club). Even her first rescue dog was named after a Seddon Atki! Jill would want any speech about her to mention at this point all four of her much-loved dogs: Cassie, Hollie, Seddon and her beautiful Bronxie.
Peter will say more shortly and has written about their marriage in the book that accompanies the order of service. A book given to Jill as a present on her 80th birthday last year.
After beginning their married life in an area of Luton at the edge of the Luton Hoo estate, called Park Corner, in 1974 Jill and Peter moved to Flitwick with a three-year-old Jacqueline, a 2-month-old Sara-Jane and a Maudslay eight-wheeler.
One person not mentioned in the book but who was an important, one could say integral, and much-loved member of Jill’s new family was Taff, Peter’s older brother, who spent many evenings with them both at Park Corner and in Flitwick at ’number 17’.
Also important to Jill were the neighbours they were blessed with at ’number 19’. Jill and Mary would visit each other’s houses through a now legendary ‘hole in the hedge’ almost as often as their respective daughters did. For both there was never any need to knock, they could just walk in through the back doors and call out to be assured of a cup of tea and place on the settee for as long as they wanted it.
It was with Mary that Jill also partook of the local social life like the Methodist guild meetings right here in this chapel and flower arranging at the village hall, where they never failed to win the raffle and bring back the tutor’s arrangement. Oh, and there was the Bees Knees fashion show (again here at the chapel) when a clothes shop was opened in Flitwick, briefly during the 1980s. Jill’s favourite flower, possibly even more so than daffodils, was the sweet pea. Her family think they recall that it was her mother Edith’s favourite flower too. Every year Mary and Maurice would give her the first bunch from their garden.
Jill excelled as a mother. For the girls the highlight of their school days was coming home every lunchtime and watching ‘Rainbow’, ‘Pipkins’ or ‘Playschool’ … very much WITH her. She was always ENTIRELY present, enjoying whatever they were doing or watching, asking and answering questions, laughing at what they laughed at, never distracted or ’too busy’ or ‘on the phone’! And that never changed. She even watched the schools’ programmes such as ‘Look and Read’ so that she could talk about them when they got home. So when, for example, Sara-Jane came home traumatised by the Thin Man in ‘The Boy from Space’, Jill knew exactly what she’d been frightened by!
And it was this same level of selfless, genuine love and interest that she gave to her three grandsons James, George and Hugh. Looking after them during the day when Jacqueline returned to work, getting to know all the staff at Windmill Preschool and Templefield Lower.
She knew the names of all their teachers right through to A’ levels, went to all the school plays (often more than one showing despite the uncomfortable chairs) and all special assemblies. (In fact, she even went to see the plays at the schools where Jacqueline was a teacher! Her interest and support never diminished.)
She loved the boys’ humour and repartee and held her own in all their exchanges, humour being a huge part of her personality. And in their turn, the boys loved her more than any grandma has ever been loved.
