Daughter, Sister, Wife, Mother, Nan, Great Grandma (GG), Mother-in-law, Grandmother in law, and Friend.
She was a little lady with a BIG personality – confident, friendly, and chatted to all that she met.

Sheila Kingston was born in Maidenhead on December 15th 1945, to Fred and Amy Kingston. Sheila was the middle child of nine. Her siblings were June, Peter, Charlie, Sylvia, Eddie, Pauline, Jenny, and Micky. Sheila was the 5th child of 9 children. 

Sheila loved all her siblings. Sheila often spoke about her childhood and some of her memories included how all the children went out and about together, with the older children looking after the younger children.

She spoke about them having more freedom and how they played and swam in the river, scrumped apples and hid them under the baby in the pram.

On one of the days out with her siblings, Sheila fell into the river and had a homemade woollen vest on. By the time she got out of the water, the vest had stretched down by her knees.

When Sheila was about 14 a dog chased her, and she jumped onto a man to avoid the dog. Years later this caused much hilarity when reminiscing with her siblings!

When Sheila was at school, she used to do shopping for a visually impaired gentleman Mr Nash for pocket money.

Sheila had several office jobs, she met Michael Galvin when she was 17 at Vandervells. The first time Mick saw Sheila he knew she was the girl he would marry; she was wearing little red boots. Mick eventually plucked up the courage to ask her to go out with him. After a little think she accepted.

The romance blossomed and they became engaged. Michael rented a room at Crawford Rise in Maidenhead. When 2 rooms came up to rent, they bought the wedding forward. They married on April 3rd, 1965, at St Joseph’s Church. They had a very happy and loving marriage.

They Honeymooned in Ireland, and Mick’s family loved her. There was no need to worry about the differences in the religion - Mick was catholic, and Sheila was CofE, but Sheila loved him and his family. Sheila met family and friends in Ireland. A story that Sheila loved to share was about a visit was to Mrs Riley, where Sheila asked to use the toilet and Mrs Riley responded ”yes” and Sheila asked “where is the toilet?” and Mrs Riley replied “anywhere you like round the back.”

When Sheila and Mick married, Sheila could not cook and Mick taught her how to cook. After a few mishaps, such as not removing the giblets from the Christmas turkey, Sheila became an amazing cook and baked super cakes and made her lovely signature trifles. Whenever there was an event at the school or church to raise money, Sheila baked and donated an array of cakes. Any family events, Sheila was first in line to offer a trifle or a cake. Sheila was a prized baker and she often baked not just for families but also charitable events.  At St Mary's Primary School, Sheila’s Patch the Dog cake was raffled.  I believe one of her girls won the cake one year and was totally devastated when her Mum said to re-draw the raffle. Home baking was a regular gift to friends and neighbours, and special requests would delight Sheila. 

Michaela was born in July 1966 and Sheila was so sick she stayed in Clivedon hospital for 10 days. Mick got lifts from their friend Sandy Taylor and he also rode his bike to see them. When Sheila came out of hospital her mum said she had never seen anyone look so slim after having a baby.

Mick and Sheila moved to Greenfields - an estate of newly built maisonettes. Sheila was good friends with Yvonne and Dianne; they had children of a similar age and the families spent a lot of time together.

Joanna was born at Cliveden hospital in August 1968. Joanna would wake up for a bottle and Sheila complained to Mick that he slept through. Mick offered to sleep next to the cot, the only difference was Sheila had to walk around the bed to give Joanna the bottle.

Sheila and Mick moved to a 3-bedroom home, in Queensway in Maidenhead. They were very happy at Greenfields and when they moved, they said that they would like to return to Greenfields when they retired. Sheila met her best friend Kay Fox and her family. Kay’s family were very close to our family. Sheila and Kay enjoyed bingo nights together. Sheila loved her flowers, and the front garden was the brightest on the road.

Maria was born in January 1971. Initially Sheila had planned a home birth, however due to complications, Maria was born in hospital. Maria needed to attend physiotherapy and was under several specialists. Another story Sheila loved to tell was when visiting a specialist, Maria took a bugs bunny toy with a pull cord that activated a selection of phrases. As the consultant finished examining Maria, she pulled the cord and the bugs bunny asked, “what’s up doc?”

Sheila was a stay-at-home mum to her girls until her youngest daughter Maria started school. On occasions, Sheila did part time temporary jobs to make a little extra money for the yearly holiday to Ireland. Some of her temporary jobs included working on the fruit and veg stall in the Maidenhead market, and cleaning in the evening at Furze Platt school.

When Maria started at St Mary’s primary school, Sheila worked in the school canteen. Sheila was able to be with her girls before and after school and in the school holidays. Sheila loved the school holidays with her girls and when other friends said they could not wait for their children to go back to school, Sheila would be the opposite and wanted more time with them.

Sheila became good friends with Doreen Reid, the cook at St Mary's, and acquired a good few recipes from Doreen.

Sheila met her Avon lady Margarita when the girls were young, and they became firm lifelong friends. Margarita was one of the last people to call Sheila on her birthday (15th December 2021).

Sheila was a social butterfly and for many years she hosted the family Christmas parties, amazing bon fire nights for family and friends, and brilliant birthday parties. With a huge base of friends, Sheila would never forget a person and would always speak to someone no matter if she had only ever met them once. 

As the girls entered their teenage years, the family moved to Canon Court Road in Maidenhead. Sheila and Mick enjoyed their gardening, and the front garden was the prettiest and brightest along the road and won many awards.

Sheila worked in the offices at Baxter Ratcliffe (women’s underwear manufacturers) with her good friend Liz Eaton. Sheila worked on an old Olivetti and she called it “Ollie”. Sheila enjoyed working with a good team and enjoyed quite a few social get togethers outside of work.

Sheila had 7 wonderful grandchildren: Sam, Sean, Jess, Amy, Danny, Alex and Nathan, and a lovely step grandchild Connor. Sheila loved spending time with the children, and enjoyed taking them out to pantos at the Hexagon at Reading, and then to see Father Christmas at Wendover.

Amy remembers a time when nanny Sheila secretly asked for a pantomime actor to give her grandchildren a shoutout on stage. Just before the performance started, an actor appeared on stage to give "A special hello to Samantha, Jessica, and Amy!". As Sheila didn't tell the girls about the shoutout, they thought it was for another group of little girls with the same name - Amy told Jessica "There's another Samantha, Jessica, and Amy here!" Amy also remembers her hat blowing off in the wind that day, and Sheila, Mick, Samantha, Jessica, and Amy trying to run after it. 

Sheila was a good and kind mother-in-law to Brian, Jerry, and Jez. Sheila loved spending time with the family, she got on well with the son in laws and their families, and made everyone feel welcome and included. Brian says he felt blessed to have 2 mums and 2 dads.

When Sheila was made redundant, she became a Childminder to grandchildren Sean (aka Fingers Delaney) and Amy (aka Tiddly Tiny) for a year. Sheila and the children enjoyed their time together.  

Sheila worked very briefly at a Funeral Directors. After a couple of weeks, Sheila said she had to leave when she realised how many people she knew in the cupboard!

Sheila worked for a few years at the Maidenhead Advertiser. Again, she enjoyed working with a good team and made a few new friends.

During Sheila’s time at the advertiser, her daughter Joanna, son-in-law Jerry, and grandchildren Sean, Danny, and Alex moved to New Zealand on September 3rd, 2002. Three months later Sheila travelled to New Zealand to see her family. During her first visit to NZ, she went to a supermarket on about day 3 of her trip. She met some friends from the UK! Even the ladies in the local supermarket in NZ ask Jo today "how's your Mum?" even though it's years since her last visit. 

Sheila enjoyed several more trips to NZ to be with her family. Forever thinking of the family back home, Sheila sent a chicken wishbone in the post to Sam, because at home they would pull the wishbone together.

Sheila thought about the Family in NZ when she was at home, and she often sent them parcels of their favourite English food. On one occasion, Sheila posted Alex his favourite - a homemade lemon cake, but by the time it arrived it was full of ants. Sheila would always see the funny side in any situation, and she responded as quick as a flash: "Oh, I sent it by air mail, not ant mail!". 

Sheila also worked in clinical records at St Mark's hospital; again she enjoyed working with a good team and made more friends. Sheila’s final job was in the office at Clean linen. She took early retirement at the same time as her husband Mick. 

Sheila and Mick celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on April 3rd, 2015. They treated the family to a meal to celebrate. Unfortunately, they did not get to enjoy their gift from the family because a few days later they got the flu. They were too ill to go the hotel or to the theatre to watch the lion king. They offered the trip to the family instead. 

Some of the grandchildren met partners and husbands over the years and Sheila became a great grandmother in law to Robin, Tyler, Luke, and Jess. She was just as welcoming and inclusive to the new additions to the family. 

Sheila and Mick moved to Swindon. It was a good move - they loved their new home, and they had extra bedrooms ready and waiting for the family to visit. Sheila attended St John’s church and she often chatted about the church, Raymond, Linda and her friends within the congregation. Sheila also made cakes for the Rock Café and made a tray of sandwiches on several occasions. Sheila enjoyed going out with friends and attending clubs, such as the WI and a book club. Sheila made some more good friends during her time in Swindon.

The Great Grandchildren came along, and Sheila became a great grandma (GG) to Mollie-Rose, Felicity, Elodie and Imogen.  Sheila enjoyed spending time, playing, and spoiling the girls when she could. Sheila loved the girls calling her GG, and she also referred to herself as GG and not Great Grandma. Lockdown proved to be difficult and there was a gap in not seeing the children. Sheila made up for it when restrictions were lifted. Sheila loved spending time with the children, baking and decorating cakes with the girls.

The lockdown was hard for Sheila and Mick as they were separated from the family, although they never complained. That time was instrumental to the decision to move to Salisbury to be close to family. Sheila praised Sam and Robin for all the help they provided to ensure a smooth move.

Sheila was very pleased with the move; she loved the bungalow. Sheila again was friendly and chatty and started to make friends and arranged outings and clubs to join with them.

When Sheila and Mick moved to Salisbury, they often travelled to places on the bus. One day whilst they were on the bus, Sheila prodded Mick to say she had overheard a conversation about a handyman. Sheila said “I will ask the lady about the handyman”. Mick was a little taken aback and said “You cannot do that as you don’t know her” but Sheila, true to form, asked the lady on the bus for the handyman’s number. Sheila then later met up with the lady for a coffee. Sheila truly was a social butterfly and loved meeting new people.    

Sheila celebrated her 76th birthday on the 15th of December 2021. She had a good day, and spoke to and received so many cards and messages from family and friends. There would be no doubt how much she was loved, and how many people cared for her.
Sheila passed away suddenly on the 16th of December 2021, leaving us heartbroken, but also so grateful to have had her in our lives.