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Pat Coldicott

Older residents will remember Pat Coldicott, who lived for many years in Oxhill with her aunt and uncle Ivy and Sam Middleton in Church Lane.  She spent her early years with her parents in Shirley, Birmingham, but was christened in Oxhill, her mother’s home village, on 14th November, 1943.  Pat had some learning difficulties, and attended a special school in Suffolk.  There were difficulties between her and her mother - Pat was not the always the easiest person - and she much preferred spending time in Oxhill with Auntie Ivy, who gave her firmness and kindness in equal measure.  Lilian tells me Pat would walk from Shirley to Oxhill in order to come and stay.  After she left school, Ivy and Sam took her to live with them full time, and she stayed with them even after her mother, Daisy, later came back to Oxhill to live in Beech Road.  For many years Pat delivered our papers, and was a well-known (and loudly voluble) member of our community. She would still be talking to you when she rounded the next corner!

Pat moved to Stratford when Ivy became frail and went to live in Low Furlong in 1981.  At first she lived independently with a low level of support, and did kitchen work in Tiddington Fields and elsewhere.  Later she moved into sheltered housing, and latterly a nursing home.   She had grown particularly close to one family of friends, who organized her funeral in the absence of family of her own.  Many of her work colleagues attended her funeral in Shottery.  She died of cancer aged 67, and was buried in Oxhill Churchyard.

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Last modified: May 04, 2011