This site is a tribute to Barbara Mullard. She is much loved and will always be remembered.

Eulogy for Barbara Mullard

Qualities:  kind, compassionate, generous, organised, intelligent, loyal.  A true friend, with a wicked sense of humour.

Known as Barbie & Boo Boo

Barbara never married, but was considered as a loving sister/aunt to Johstone’s and Palmer/Woodall families; spending Christmas, Easter, birthday’s weddings, christenings and many other special family occasions with them.

 She had many lovely friends throughout her life.  When later in life, while struggling with her mobility, she was grateful for the many phone calls, emails and letters that she was still receiving and wanted to say thank you!

She was a bridesmaid to family members as a child and so many friends, as an adult.  Later she was Godmother to Paul, Sarah & Francis

Life:

Born 9.10.1938 at home in Priam Street Harpurhey to mum Edith & dad John, (but known as Jack)

Earliest memory: Crying during a screening of Gone with The Wind.  Her father had to take her outside, as mum had no intention of missing the film.

She attended Burgess Street Primary School until the age of 11.  It was during this time at Primary school where Barbara who also attended Christ Church Sunday School, met and became good friends with Ann, who was her oldest friend.

The biggest highlight of the Sunday school year was when the church took part in the famous Whit Sunday walks.  Barbara was so proud one year to hold the church banner, with her best friend Ann.

After Burgess Street, Barbara attended Harpurhey High School for girls from September 1950.  Here she made many friends and was still in contact with Joan & Ann up until her death.

Ann & Barbara would walk to high school together every day, taking the short cut over the Corporation tip.  I’m not sure if their mothers were aware of this fact though.  At the age of 16, Barbara left High School and was permitted a glass of sherry by her parents to celebrate the end of her school education.

Young Adult:

Every Saturday, Barbara would go out dancing with her friends to places that included The Ritz, The Plaza & The YMCA in Manchester along with the Locarno in Sale.  Interesting fact about the Y.M.C.A, I been told the young ladies had to queue up & wait outside, while the men just walked in. totally shocking!

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Places of work & Friends

Police, ICI & CPS to name but a few. She had a varied & interesting career, but was very keen to retire from the CPS aged 60 in 1998, where she managed the Committals section.

 During her early working life, she made many friends and just to name but a few, these included the very loyal Judith, Barbara, Alison, Christine, Maralyn & Carolyn.  As time moved on, visits became less due to Barbara’s & her friends age & declining health. She kept in touch with them though right to the end.

She took part and thoroughly enjoyed attending a computer class.  Her fellow classmates would meet up every year in Manchester, until the numbers sadly dwindled.

Holidays:

At 18 Barbara along with Ann, Lillian & Margaret ventured to Torquay without their parents and stayed in a guest house. This was considered quite a brave and daring thing to do for young ladies during the 1950’s.   I believe they all enjoyed some lovely adventures and were very lucky with the weather.

Later Barbara ventured to Athens with her loyal friend Judith. Barbara also enjoyed holidays with Barbara, a friend she had met during her ICI days.  Other holidays included Malta, Austria, New York & Niagara in Canada.

She was a keen rambler & went on many rambling holidays in the UK.  Holidays here included Northumberland, Yorkshire, Jersey & The Lakes just to mention a few. She thoroughly enjoyed this period in her life.  She loved the comradeship and the great outdoors.

Hobbies:

Her first love was her gorgeous cats.  She was passionate about animals.  During the 1970s, Barbara & her good friend Carol would go out together rescuing abandoned animals in Moss Side and often in the middle of the night.  This was when many terrace properties were being knocked down due to modern houses being built.  Their owners would just leave their own homes, with their pets being left behind

She was passionate about wildlife and became an avid supporter of The Woodland Trust This is one of the charities she has requested donations are made to today, instead of flowers.

Another charity she supported was The Blind Veterans, this was due to her uncle being blinded during the 1^st world war. 

Another passion was the Operatic society. 

She was intelligent & well read, enjoyed fine art, plays and the classic black & and white films. As for music, anything by Old Blue Eyes, as she would call him.  That was any tune except My Way.

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Barbara overcame great prejudice when buying her first home. Single women during the late 1960’s were not considered suitable to take on a mortgage and buy their own homes.  It was a great injustice and thank goodness we have now moved on from those days. The first bank manger just would not let her take out a mortgage and due to this, she lost the option to buy the first house she wanted to buy.  Barbara told me that the owner of that property even went into the bank to complain about the poor treatment she felt Barbara had received.

Not giving up, she approached a different bank when applying for the mortgage on her next chosen property.  This was a house in Burnage Manchester. A few years later, she then sold the Burnage property and purchased her next home in Whitefield.

Barbara also impressively took on learning to drive later in her life. She only drove for a short period in her life. When she moved to Wigton in Cumbria she decided to give up driving and kindly gave her one car, a blue fiesta, to her God daughter Sarah, who shared her hate of driving on motorways.

Later Life.

In 2016 and encouraged from her oldest and good friend Ann, Barbara decided to move to Warrington and purchased her last residence - a flat at Bartholomew Court, Grappenhall.  Whilst here, she underwent a hip replacement, along with knee replacement surgery on both knees.  She also joined the wonderful service of Dial-a-ride, who took her out for many adventures with her close friends from Bartholomew Court.

I believe Morrisons on Thursday morning was a regular, but she also went further afield to the delights of Bury market at least once.

To demonstrate what a kind caring person she was, during lock-down there was a fellow resident who had become quite incapacitated and neglected by her family.  Barbara would go up daily to check her and bring her regular meals.  She was also struggling with her own health and mobility at this stage, yet as ever she was always thinking of others.

The last few years Barbara suffered from great ill health.  Sometimes her ailments would leave her housebound and quite unable to venture out.  Yet, even in great pain and discomfort she always remained cheerful and optimistic. She did have a chuckle over the rude WhatsApp messages being floated around during lock-down and was quite eager to share them amongst her friends.

A last message to all her dear friends.

Barbara had been very clear on who had to be contacted before her funeral and a long list of who is to be contacted after.  This is because of understanding totally the frustrations of being housebound and in pain. She really didn’t want anyone to feel guilt ridden and in need of attending.

 Close friends and I named but a few, but you all know who you are. Barbara valued and appreciated your friendship.  She did suffer some really difficult things in her life, that I’m not going to dwell on, but you gave her the strength to pick herself up and move on and for this she was always grateful. Laugh, smile, keep telling the jokes, hug a tree or two and be kind to one another.

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Chosen Poem for a strong lady

Let us gather, a heart entwined.

 To celebrate a life, a love divine.

 A strong woman, who led the way.

With courage and grace, in every way.

We’ll share the stories, the laughter and tears.

A life well lived, through joy and fears.

Her spirit lingers, in each of us.

A celebration of life, a love so just.