Magazine for May 2010
Heather Took
4th February 1941 – 23rd March 2010
|
Heather was born and brought up in the East End of London, something that she was very proud of. Her father was a Lance Corporal during the war, and afterwards he reverted back to his old job as a milkman. Her mother worked in a local post office. Until Heather was eight, the family lived with her grandmother, who had a great influence on her.
Because her parents both worked, Heather had to look after herself and her younger brother until her parents came home – this was something that had a profound effect on her which showed when she became a mother herself. |
 |
She left school at 18 and trained and qualified in London as a State Registered Nurse. She and Peter married in September 1963. At first they lived in a flat in Hammersmith, then Peter was moved to an office in Swiss Cottage which gave them the opportunity to buy their first house. Heather continued nursing at a hospital within walking distance of their home – the Kingsbury Maternity Hospital.
In 1965 she switched from being a nurse to being a patient at the Maternity Hospital, and Chris was born. The family was completed in 1968 when Mike arrived, and because of her childhood memories of being a ‘latchkey kid’, Heather believed very strongly that a mother’s role was at home with her children, so she was never again gainfully employed.
In 1971 the family moved to Leamington, and very quickly she became involved with St Mark’s Guides, taking on the leadership at an early stage, and continuing until just a year or so ago. What is less well-known is that she had another hat in Guiding – the training of adult leaders. This took her all over the UK, and on one occasion to Germany.
She was a member of the PCC and had also been on the PCC many years earlier. She was well-known to those who attend FIRs, and in fact had been on the serving and washing up team ever since FIRs began, which was some time in the eighties. She had an infectious sense of humour – she was one of those people who believed that if it wasn’t fun, it wasn’t worth doing.
Heather set very high standards for herself and others. She knew, of course, that she wasn’t going to get perfection out of people, but she reckoned that if you aimed high, you could settle for a little less, but if you aimed low, you would only get what you asked for! She wanted people to be the best that they could be, and she would make them stretch themselves just that little bit further than they thought that they could go.
Heather’s son Chris has set up a website which contains the full order of service for the Crematorium and for the Thanksgiving at St Mark’s. The latter includes further photographs from Heather’s life. There is also the full Eulogy (of which this is a very shortened version) with many anecdotes and tributes. You can reach the website on: