Joey on maternity leave...

Joey now on maternity leave...yippee. More mums for the inner west to hang out with. This photo was taken when Joey was about 20/21 weeks and myself 24/25 weeks. About to be Mums with 4 boys between us. Baerin and Chris will never be able to say that we have not tried to build the football team for them.

Easter in Tweed Heads 08

Many thanks

Thank you to my lovely 'mummy' friends for the beautiful flowers to my family for my Pop. A very beautiful collection of Lily and Orchards (pinks and whites) looked very beautiful in Mum's new place and made us all smile.

And to all my other friends for their warm words and text messages.

Buddy Walkinshaw (Pop) 12/10/25 - 11/03/08

Pop

Pop the most amazing man I have known. I true Gentle Man. A loving and generous husband, a wonderful parent, a caring and loving grandparent and great grandparent, a father figure to so many of us and a treasured and loyal friend.

My grandparents, Nan & Pop had a great life together. True soul mates. They visited their children and grandchildren very often, and were very involved in our lives and what mattered to us.

I have much comfort in the good feelings my memories give me of Pop. I remember when I was a younger having holidays at Nan and Pop’s numerous homes.

Waking up in the mornings and terrorising poor Pop’s ticklish feet whilst he slept in fetal position clinging to his small side of the bed. Which Nan would always argue is a clear half.

Getting into Pop’s endless supply of boiled lollies, hard jubes, black cats and licorice.

Learning how to fish with Pop. Never an easy time for Pop really. A bunch of his grandkids in a tiny tinny throwing hook, line, sinker and the occasional rod overboard in fear a fish would bite us. Mayhem for poor Pop really but no signs of regret of taking us out to fish ever showed on his face.

Camping and pitching a tent with Pop was lots of fun. I remember many family holidays together and then staying up late and playing cards and board games. Pop loved the cards. He’d play them till all hours of the night with many of us.

Learning how to drive with Pop was a memory that many of us share. Pop always showed very controlled levels of patience. Especially whilst trying to teach Nan how to drive (although I have been told of moments where his patience wore quite thin whilst Nan was behind the wheel). However, I can only speak about how remarkably calm he remained whilst teaching a few of his grandkids including myself how to drive. How generous he would be taking me to lessons before my exam and even shouting the fee for my exam when times were tougher for us.

Pop was the handy man of most trades. He’d be fixing our bikes, painting our bedrooms, tuning up our cars, creating make shift fix its for almost anything, to building cubby houses for us. I remember our cubby house looking not too dissimilar to a brand new kit home with verandah, working windows and floor boards.

We can all recall Pop’s many sheds over the years. We’d always have a lot of fun exploring them. Asking Pop what this did and what that did. A very early memory for me would be the state of Pop’s hands. He’d always have grease on his hands and plenty of turps to help clean them before dinner or he’d be in lots of trouble from Nan.

Shopping at St Vincent’s de Paul in my late teens was one of our favourite things to do together. Even if I was not shopping with Pop I’d later ring him to let him know of my recent bargain and sure enough he’d be looking around his local op shops to see if he could better it.

Pop would attend, with Nan, all of our sporting events, swimming carnivals, dancing and music events that we’d participate in. He’d always show an interest in how our grades were going and what we enjoyed in life. Pop had a special place later in life with his younger Grandkids, known as the Warehouse. He loved this place. Junk fascinated Pop although he did not like to call it junk, just a bargain.

Pop had an inspiring love for animals. They say animals are the best judge of characters. Well certainly in every animal that I have known Pop to have known they have all gone beyond the word love for him. From cockatoos to dogs, cats, guinea pigs, horses and even the chooks were keen on Pop.

I remember several Christmas’ including our last Christmas together Pop would dress up as Santa. Family meant the world to Pop. He treasured every moment he had with us all. It was his steam to his engine.

Pop loved to dance. In his younger days of being a grandfather he’d have more energy than me as a 10 year old on the dance floor. He’d never say no to a dance. A true ‘Walkinshaw’.

They say you can take the man out of Melbourne but you can’t take the Melbourne out of the man. This was true for Pop. He had a soft spot for Melbourne his birth city. Always taking an interest in any trips you might take to Melbourne. Whilst we would all be looking forward to the League and Union grand finals each year, Pop would be warming up to his AFL finals and enjoying his team Sydney Swans formerly know as South Melbourne Swans.

Pop was a WW2 Veteran. He valued the importance of history and we were always so proud of him. There would always be one of us watching him march in the ANZAC day ceremonies. In his earlier days I recall standing near St Andrew’s cathedral around 9am ANZAC days with Nan and watching him march on by. Nan would always say the Navy marches first you know because they were the ‘best looking’.

Pop always said that he lived for his grandchildren. They kept him young at heart, spread over some 35 years he sure did not get a rest and then there came his great grandchildren. He always made us feel good inside. I can see that my mother and uncles all got their fun loving spirit from Pop. He was selfless and kind. Amazing and generous. He loved being a parent and grandparent. It was his calling in life. Pop, we will miss you. You were a wonderful role model in all of our lives and a great friend to so many. Thank you for all the wonderful memories that you gave us. Not having you here with us is like not wanting the good story to end. But we will all continue our story in our own ways and meet you in our dreams.