Born and Bred
A Yorkshire Family
Patricia Margaret Lunn
Patricia's Story
Patricia Margaret Claybrough nee Lunn - Pat to her many friends and family - was born on the 31st of January 1936 in Leeds Maternity Hospital to Thomas and Hilda Lunn. At that time they lived with Hilda's parents at 12 Clement Terrace in Rothwell.
In 1939 they moved to their own house at 11 Talbot Terrace, this was the next row of houses on from where they had been living with Hilda's parents. They would continue to live here throughout the war years and it was here in 1944 that Hilda gave birth to a son, Christopher. When Pat's mum realised she was close to giving birth she sent Pat who was just 8 at the time with a note for the midwife who lived on Haigh Road asking her to come. When Pat returned home her mum told her to go to school as normal.
In 1947 Hilda had another daughter, Elizabeth. When Hilda got a part time job as a cleaner at St. George's Hospital in 1948, working from 5pm to 8pm, it was left to Pat to look after her younger siblings after she came home from school until her father came home from work at night.
Pat had attended the Council school on Carlton Lane, Rothwell, not far from where she lived, until shortly after the war broke out. The school was then shut down due to a lack of teachers as all the male teachers of fighting age were called up. She resumed her education when the school re-opened two years later when they had managed to re-hire older teachers who had retired.
Pat was short sighted, but this wasn't picked up until she was eight, so she struggled with her studies and failed her 11+. When she left school at 15 she worked at Dobson's farm in Carlton, picking rhubarb and vegetables and preparing them for market. She stayed there for six months before getting a job at Waddington's in Stourton assembling Easter Egg boxes. It was a job she hated and she only stayed there about six months before getting a job in the Social Care department at St. George's Hospital in Rothwell. She had always wanted to be a nurse but couldn't begin her formal training until she turned 17 1/2 so this was a good way to gain valuable experience.
Between 1953 and 1959 she trained and worked at Wakefield General Hospital (Pinderfields). Pat qualified as a State Registered Nurse in 1958 shortly before marrying Ken in the December of that year.
Pat's father, Thomas, was a keen cricketer and on one occasion Pat and her family went to watch her dad play cricket at Carlton. It was here that she saw and met Ken, who was also a keen cricketer and footballer. Shortly after this they bumped into each other in Rothwell and Ken asked her if she would like to go to the pictures with him. Pretty soon they were spending all their free time together and shortly after he completed his National Service they got engaged.
Pat and Ken were married on the 27th of December 1958, it has always been something of a family joke that this date was chosen because Ken was not playing cricket or football then, but that, like most family stories, is just that, a good story and a bit of a laugh.
They went on honeymoon to Blackpool, but due to some mishap, the train terminated at Blackburn with the result that they had to spend nearly all the money they had taken with them on honeymoon in getting a taxi to take them to their guest house in Blackpool. They spent five days there, this being the Christmas period, the Pleasure Beach was shut down but there was still plenty for them to do. One day they went to the famous Tower Ballroom, Pat would have liked to dance there, but Ken said he couldn't dance and so instead they just listened to the organist.
After their honeymoon they lived with Ken's parents for the next twelve months. Eventually Ken and Pat managed to save up enough money to buy their first house. This was a new build house at 18 Knightsway, an end terrace just off of Pawson Street in Robin Hood. They would remain here until they moved to Carlton, in 1974.
Towards the end of 1959 Pat left Pinderfields Hospital and spent six months training to be a District Nurse in Bradford. Upon successfully completing her training she worked for the Rothwell Urban District Council and covered the Rothwell, Kippax and Garforth areas. She was provided with a Morris Minor car by the council in order to get around her area. She and others like her, provided much of the same services as was found in a hospital, with the exception of operations, but in the patients homes.
In 1961 they had their first child, a daughter whom they named Pamela. The next 18 months were to be happy times for the growing family, but in March 1963, Pamela contracted Meningitis and sadly died.
This devastating loss left a huge hole in the lives of Pat and Ken, however, in February 1964, Pat gave birth, at home this time, to another daughter whom they named Janet.
For the next ten years the family would continue to live at 18 Knightsway. By now Pat was no longer working as a district nurse, but was back at St. George's Hospital as the Night Sister.
In 1974 Pat and Ken bought a new house in Carlton at 10 Queen's Drive where they were to remain for the rest of their lives. In 1978 Pat left her position at St. George's and went to work as the Practice Nurse for Lofthouse Surgery where she would remain until she retired in the year 2000.
In 1992 their daughter Janet married Mark Richardson at Rothwell Methodist Church, Then in 1996 Janet gave birth to a daughter - Kathryn - Pat and Ken were now proud grandparents. In 2002 and 2003 two more grandchildren, Victoria and Matthew appeared on the scene. Both Pat and Ken doted on their grandchildren and spoilt them enormously as grandparents are want to.
Retirement brought more time for Pat and Ken to spend time in their garden and allotment and engage in their active social life life centred around Carlton Cricket and Football clubs.
From 2014 onwards Ken's health began to deteriorate and he struggled to get about. He spent more and more of his time at home with Pat's skills as a former nurse coming in especially useful as she looked after him. In 2015 Pat 's beloved husband, Ken, died, they had been married for over 57 years. Pat continued to live by herself, quite independently even though her eye sight and hearing were deteriorating. She had a wide circle of friends and continued to enjoy her gardening, working in her allotment and being involved with the local chapel.
Early in August of this year She was diagnosed with breast cancer, tests soon confirmed it was aggressive and had spread to her lungs. Alas, this was one fight that Pat couldn't win. When she was admitted to Pinderfields she made sure all the doctors knew she was an ex-nurse and insisted they explained everything to her in medical terms. She wanted to know what was happening at all stages and that she would make her own decisions as to how she wanted to proceed.
Sadly on the morning of the 29th of August 2024 Pat died at Pinderfields where she had trained and worked as a nurse.
She was a much loved mother and grand mother and will be sadly missed by all her family and friends.