Mum was fiercely independent, loyal to those she loved, had to work hard all her life as no one gave her anything.

But she was generous to a fault and would force money on to me and her grandchildren whether we needed it or not and there was no denying her.

She ran her own business for years and had to fight tooth and nail to keep it at times but she would never give up.

She could be very opinionated but hilarious with it.

Her stories of awkward customers that came in her shop could have you crying with laughter and she always said the best thing about owning your own business was if you didn’t like someone’s attitude you could tell them to fuck off – in later years this led to some bad reviews online but, as she never read them, they had zero effect on her or the business.

I never thought of a time when she wouldn’t be there for me and I miss her so much.