Jean was born on 8th August 1936 at 27 Beccles Road Oulton Broad eldest daughter to Albert James Batchelor and Winifred Batchelor, formerly Blizzard. Her father was a boat yard labourer.
At the age of 2 the family moved to Oulton Village where Jean lived until she married Neville on 2nd March 1957.
She had a younger brother David who died on 2nd August 2002 and has a sister Janet who is 14 years younger than she was.
Jean was a bit of a tomboy and loved running around over the fields in Oulton Village. As a young girl World War 2 began and the family spent a lot of time in Tewksbury ‘bomb dodging’ as she called it. She loved Tewksbury where she remembered her times there as exciting with long hot summers where she could run through the fields, play in the river and help open the lock gates. One of her favourite things was to annoy the swans so they chased the younger children.
She went to Gorleston Road school and then on to Harris girls school. At the age of 5 she was swinging on the gate at her home 229 Oulton Road when a mother and a young girl went past. Jean decided she would stick her tongue out at the other girl but unfortunately for her her mother was indoors cleaning a mirror and saw what happened. She went out after Jean and made her run down the road after the girl and say sorry. Jean said sorry and asked if the girl could come and play with her. This started a friendship with Sheila that lasted until Sheila died in 2019. They went to school together and when Sheilas mum was very ill in hospital for sometime one year over Christmas, Sheila stayed with the family and was like another sister to Jean and another daughter to Jeans mother. Sheila would take her mums lipstick amd they would practise putting it on and Sheilas grandad chopped and sold sticks so Jean and Sheila could often be found chopping sticks in the shed. That must be where Jeans love of chopping sticks came from as right up until she was about 80 years old if Jean could get hold of some sticks to chop she was one happy lady.
The most annoying thing to Jean was when her and Sheila wanted to run around the fields they would sneak off to the voice of her mother yelling Jean come and take this boy with you, meaning her brother David, he was only little and couldn’t keep up with the girls and Jean delighted in dragging him along so he fell over and fell in the ditches that they could jump, he howled all the way which Jean delighted in.
At Harris girls school she was a prefect and claimed to not have been a very good one as she was always in trouble. Jean found a love of sewing at school and carrying this on after school was what she wanted to do most. Sadly in those times especially as you had to pay to put your children through an apprenticeship this was usually only reserved for the boys of a family as lack of money wouldn’t allow them to waste it on a girls career. I’m not sure Jean ever quite got over the fact that David as the son was put through an apprenticeship as a mechanic yet didnt stick with it as a career.
When she left school she went to work at a stocking repair shop where even in later years she always insisted on doing invisible mending to all laddered stockings and tights. but her real love was dressmaking. She used to make a lot of her own clothes and when her daughter Lynn was small she made hers as well. She was always pleased that she had made her sister in law Marys wedding dress and bridesmaids dresses and her daughters wedding dress and bridesmaids dresses and her granddaughters christening gown. Her love of sewing did get her into trouble with her mother in law at one point though. When Jean worked at Pye TV the men at the factory got wind that Jean was good at turning up trousers and this was a little extra income for Jean so the men would come to her and Nevilles home in Sandringham Road. Her mother in law Annie lived in the same road and people started commenting about the stream of men in and out at number 4. Annie was straight round telling Jean she had to stop this as it wasnt looking very proper but Jean was a very determined lady and wasnt going to be told what she could do!
She met Neville in 1952 when she was 15 and they got engaged when she was 17 and she was 20 when they got married in 1957. They started off life in a flat which Jean decorated. Her Father taught her how to paint and she was determined to master wallpapering, even though her first attempt at doing the ceiling in the flat resulted in all the paper falling down on her head. She wasn’t one to give up and painting and decorating remained a favourite of hers for most of her life. She didn’t like living at the flat as the lady downstairs was a bit too nosey and everything Jean threw in the bins even mouldy cheese the woman would root through the bins saying me I like cheese I’ll have that!
Jean and Neville had a beach hut on the North beach at Lowestoft which Neville had built and most summers were spent at the beach hut where they made lots of friends. Before she had Lynn they were also members of a cycling club and would cycle for miles around the area.
Her and Neville bought 4 Sandringham Road and lived there for many years before moving to Haven Avenue to a bungalow in later life when the stairs became too much for Neville. Jean had always wanted a bungalow so was very proud to have finally got one.
Jean was a very busy and practical person and always had a job bringing in extra money for holidays. When she left the stocking shop she went on to work at Pye on the assembly line until she had Lynn in 1961. After having Lynn she would still work at anything that would bring in extra money, leaflet deliveries, evening work at Birdseye, cleaning at Gunton Hall and having an industrial sized machine at home where she did home work for Zanettas the carrycot makers. After this she became a tea lady at Pye and then did cleaning at a local butchers. Her and Neville also had an allotment and greenhouses in the garden where they would grow and sell plants and tomatoes. One of her favourite things was pricking out seedlings.
When Neville was made redundant from Eastern Coach Works and he set up a gardening business she went to work for him as the ‘boy’ weeding and cutting grass.
Jean loved gardening and decorating but she could also turn her hand to changing a plug, gutting a chicken or most other DIY. She could wield any tool in Nevilles toolbox and always had a screwdriver close by all her life.
In the 1970’s when the local guide group was going to close because there wasn’t anyone to help run it Jean became a Lieutenant guider. Her favourite thing was the annual guide camp which she was happy orgainising every year. She was always in charge of the cooking and it was a standard family joke that she could make a better meal in a field than at home.
Jean and Neville loved their holidays and loved camping. They spent many holidays camping in the UK and abroad. They also enjoyed many camping weekends away at Sunfields camping site in Belton where they also made many friends. Jean would finish work on a Friday lunchtime go off with the car and trailer and pick up her friend Doreen and they would go and put the tent up and have dinner on the go for when Neville Ken and the children arrived after work and school.
In later years Jean and Neville began to enjoy package holidays to Spain and Greece. Again they met many friends on their travels who they continued to keep in touch with. The greek islands became a firm favourite with them. They continued holidaying until Nevilles death in 2003.
When Lynns daughter Becky was born Jean and Neville were in their element. Becky would enjoy lots of trips out with them and Jean would spend hours playing with her.
Jean had lived in Lowestoft all her life and had always vowed she would only ever leave in a box but 2 years ago as her health began to fail her and she had lots of falls Lynn tried to persuade her to move to Diss to be closer to her. Jean was having none of it until the only two people she ever listened to stepped in. Her granddaughter Becky persuaded her she should move closer and Jean started listening and then her friend Sheila also joined in telling her the same thing. The decision was made and she moved to a retirement complex in Diss where after a short while she settled and made new friends and enjoyed the coffee mornings and bingo and the chats in the gardens.
During the lockdown she became less active started to have falls again and became very poorly. After a long stay in hospital having had a heart attack, a chest infection and C diff she eventually left the hospital to start the next chapter in her life at De Lucy House Care Home in Diss. She was so pleased when she got there from the hospital saying thank god I’ve made it! She settled in with one of her favourite TV programmes, the Chase and all seemed well. However her body couldnt fight any more and she sadly died at the home. The staff were amazing and she would have loved to have been there longer. After 84 years this very determined, feisty, head strong lady gave in and has gone to join Neville.