The obituary notice of Valerie SKERROW

[part 2 of 2]
Back in the mid 1980s she was the only mum I knew who was so well educated, let alone capable of operating a minicomputer!

As Jackie and I saw less of each other due to our different paths, I still would visit Val every time I was in Hull. Eventually access to the tenfoot was restricted so I had to go through the front door, but she was always welcoming. Visiting her felt like re-establishing a constant in my life. Val was there, the house was more or less the same as I remembered it and that constancy provided a point of stability in an ever changing world. Val would always offer me a G&T or a cherry brandy - stories related to the latter can only be told in person.

I never had the sense that Val was aging - she was always as sharp as I’d remembered her throughout our lives; she could still work with a computer at the Sutton Museum and could still drive (though less so in the final couple of years unfortunately). She was never an “old lady” - she was just Val, always cheerful, always welcoming and I’ll miss her terribly. Since my mum died, Val was the last connection with that part of Hull where we grew up. Playing in the tenfoot; trips to Spurn Head; meeting up on the Moors or Robin Hood’s Bay. Our childhoods were as perfect as they could be and we had something that is lost forever now - we had the freedom to do as we pleased. Val knew some of the stories and we would laugh about the naughty things we did down the tenfoot and beyond - but you had to live it to realize what a special time it was, and how special a person Valerie was. A second Mum. A constant. I can’t describe how much I’ll miss her.

[part 1 of 2]
I first met Val when I was around 6 months old as Jackie’s mum met my mum when we were at the vaccination clinic in Sutton. Our mums quickly became friends and I can proudly say my friendship with Jackie is my longest.

Val was like a second mum to me. The Marriotts lived on Abott’s Close and the Skerrows lived on Mead Street - but between us, there was a tenfoot, that special Hull version of a back alley that connected our gardens so we could get to each other’s house without going on the street. So much of our childhood was spent in the tenfoot and going to Jackie’s house always meant going in via the back door, and the same for Jackie coming to our house.

This connection made for an especially close kinship between our families. We didn’t wait for invites, we just went round and knocked on the back door and walked in. Val was always welcoming and I felt just as much at home at Jackie’s house as I did at mine.

Val was a different kind of mum to mine because she had a job and could drive a car and her fondness for food shopping at Marks and Sparks made her seem special in my mind. My mum couldn’t drive, so I only ever experienced Marks and Sparks food at Jackie’s house.

Val always impressed me. Not content with the status quo, she was always seeking to improve her knowledge, first via nightschool where she worked her way through O levels. She used to come over to our house to ask my Dad for help with some of the work. Eventually she had enough qualifications that she got a job at Hull College. When I was in my 3rd year at university, I had need of a word processor to type up my final term project. Who better than Val to give me access to the departmental Wang minicomputer. I cycled there everyday during the Easter holiday to work on it while Val was at work. Val didn’t stand still though. She eventually earned a full bachelor’s degree herself.