Page 47 - QARANC Vol 17 No 1 2019

THE GAZETTE QARANC 45
Obituaries
Elizabeth Helena Ashworth (Liz) 1941 – 2018
Liz joined the QARANC in 1960, where, like all of us she was introduced into the art of all things military at Hindhead. Leaving the depot behind she headed off to Aldershot to the School of Nursing at the top of Gun Hill. After 12 weeks she was posted to BMH Tidworth where she was to meet real patients. Another duty that was undertaken was casevac, escorting patients from one hospital to another. It was after one of these runs that Liz was summoned to Matron’s office the next day to explain why she wasn’t wearing her beret while sitting in the front of the ambulance. She had only been spotted by HRH Princess Margaret, our Colonel in Chief, who reported the incident. Having just been promoted to Corporal, Liz thought that she was about to be demoted just as quickly but was let off with a warning. Her first posting in 1963 was to BMH Hanover and it was here that she finished her training, qualifying as SRN. She returned to the UK in 1964 where she commenced her midwifery training. It was also at this point she decided to apply for a commission but was not sure that she would be successful as she saw on the desk the records showing all her misdemeanours; however, she passed. Her next posting was to a civilian hospital to complete her midwifery training. Liz finally got her wish and was posted to the Far East to a small hospital up country in Kluang, an area that was the second beat in heart, the first being her family.
Liz joined the Chester Branch in 2001 having tried to set one up in Telford.
Liz and I were always asked what made the branch so successful. We believed it was two things. When the branch first started in 1954, it met three times a year which we continue to this day, and secondly, the success of our trips and holidays.
Liz suggested that, before we got going, it might be a good idea if we found out if we could get on together on holiday, so a weekend was planned. We arrived at the bed and breakfast to be greeted by a very anxious landlady. She said there had been a mix up with rooms, and only had a double room available. Liz and I looked at each other and said we would take it. We both said what better way to find out if you get on than to share a double bed! So, any time we went away with branch members, it was normally Liz and I that shared the double, even right up to last year when she held a party for her birthday. She will tell you that I always pinch the quilt; as for Liz if you ever wanted the shipping forecast at three in the morning Liz could recite it word perfect!
The seeds had been set and over the years the branch has travelled extensively in Europe, America and in Canada, and for Liz the Far East. We have stayed in first class hotels, in bed and breakfasts, cottages, cabins and once we almost slept in her car up a dirt track but that is another story.
However, it was in 2009 that events were to change and where Liz has left her mark on the branch. That was in organising the reunions that the branch held, with Liz cajoling anyone that she came in contact with to attend. This included her dental nurse who she wouldn’t let near her teeth till she had signed the form to go.
Sadly, Liz’s health worsened when she had open heart surgery and she was so unlucky when cancer landed at her door. She told all and everyone that she was going to fight these ‘little pests’ as she called them. She set about setting goals that she wanted to achieve which she did except the one that she wanted to do above all and that was our 5th reunion in September 2018. It went ahead as I promised her it would and yes Liz, we donned our pink wigs and we danced on the tables just as you yourself would have done.
I was so lucky because I had Liz all to myself to look after following one of her admissions to hospital when she came to stay with me. We both knew that this would probably be the last time we would be together, so we turned it into a holiday; shopping, meals out and even a visit to Chester Zoo, as well as Liz going to my granddaughter’s toddlers’ group. I don’t know who had more fun – Liz or Amelie. It was during that time that Liz told me what she wanted when ‘this day comes’ as she called it. ‘I am putting you and Matty in charge. I want berets, medals and polished shoes’, Liz added, ‘except you Lynn, as I won’t be there to sort it out’.
Looking around here today on Liz’s behalf, thank you for carrying out her wish. ‘One final job I want you to do’ as she handed me an envelope, ‘I want you with Matty to do the eulogy. Will you read this out for me, so I can hear it one more time? I will leave you to do the ending’.
After Matty broke the news to me, Richard and I headed down to her house to carry out the first task she wanted me to do which was her uniform. It was just before I left later that afternoon that as I glanced across where her uniform was. I shot up the stairs; I have a confession to make, I had forgotten her underwear that she wanted to wear! Oh, how she would have laughed as it wouldn’t be first time she had forgotten her underwear herself but that is another story.
And what was in the envelope which I opened on Monday night?
‘477626 Captain Elizabeth Helena Ashworth QARANC’; and the ending that’s easy – Stand down Soldier, you have done your duty.
Lynn Orfanelli
Branch Secretary Chester Branch.
This is an edited version of the eulogy given by Lynn Orfanelli at Liz Ashworth’s funeral