It is with great sadness we write this final farewell to our beloved Frances, Norman’s sister and my wonderful sister-in-law.  

Frances and Norman were born one year and three weeks apart.

Growing up Norman recollects Frances as a very fun-loving, popular, resourceful girl. She made friends easily. He says when they first moved to Brixton after the evacuation to Wales, she was about eleven, and within a day or two she had a circle of friends. He recalls half a dozen girls sitting on the doorstep playing five stones. 

Life was hard and Norman remembers that Brixton was a tough environment. They were living in shared accommodation and longed for a home of their own. They spent their school years there but he says the happiest time for the family came a few years later when at last they got their own home in Croydon. By then Frances had her first job and Norman a year later. 

Norman writes of that time when Frances and he were young adults and of the music scene with great affection:  

“Frances one year older and had wages and was able to buy the latest style popular music - Frank Sinatra especially so - while we wore out the LP  of West Side Story.  These early years encompassed our concert going to hear all the best jazz orchestras such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie. It was a magical time  musically one where local jazz talent received a boost from meeting such August company. Frances loved to jive to jazz music . Our visits to clubs were highlights in those years.  As I got older I came to see our interests as among  the happiest of my life shared with her.”

This deep love of music and jazz spanned most of their lives and every year on their birthday they’d make a compilation tape for the other or send CD’s of their favourite bands.

There’s so much to recall. I’m sure this has been said many times but Frances has been the glue that has kept us connected with the Arthur family. She never forgot a birthday or a special occasion and she kept us in touch with what was happening with others. 

We’ve had  some amazing times with Frances. Her enthusiasm and curiosity for Scotland and all things Scottish was infectious. She was a joy to sight see with. On her last visit she wanted to see the Kelpies, a superb 30 metre high sculpture, of mythical horses and the Falkirk Wheel, an engineering feat that transfers boats from the river to the canal above.  We have a lovely photo of that day.

Rest in Peace Frances. Your memory will live on in our hearts and we’ll make sure our granddaughters know of the lovely soul that was their Great Auntie Frances.