16 Jun 2023 Community

Vittoria and Janet are travelling from Italy to take part in this year’s The Kirkwood Memory Walk

The Kirkwood Memory Walk is our biggest fundraiser of the year with hundreds of families coming together to remember loved ones that are no longer with us, and to raise funds for our charity. Family and friends come from all over Kirklees with some coming from further afield. This year we have two people coming over from Italy to take part in the walk. Mother and daughter team Vittoria and Janet will be walking in memory of Vittoria's grandparents this July.

Janet moved to Milan, Italy when she was just 22 in 1975, she met her husband and had a family. Vittoria, now 44 was only 15 years of age when her grandmother Marie was being cared for by The Kirkwood in 1994. Despite only being a teenager, Vittoria still has lots of great memories of her grandmother. She also has equally fond memories of her grandfather Geoffrey who died in 2020 at the age of 94 too.

On those memories Vittoria said: "We are taking part in the walk in the memory of grandma Marie who died on March 17, 1994 in The Kirkwood's In-Patient Unit at Dalton, and my grandad Geoffrey who died on April 8, 2020 through old age.

"My mother moved to Italy in 1975, so I was born and grew up in Milan. I didn't get to see my grandparents very often. Maybe three or four times a year. However I had a wonderful time with them when they came to visit and when we went to visit them in Almondbury.

"She really took care of us when we met, singing nursery rhymes, reading goodnight stories, playing board games or card games or going for walks. She would cook us Yorkshire puddings with gravy and bake cakes too. We also went to the seaside together in August in Italy every year and we usually spent Christmas together. From the age of 10 until I was 15 when she died I used to go and spend two weeks alone with them in Almondbury.

"I must say we got to spend some lovely times together, I feel we were very lucky because the time we spent together was not every day or every week, but definitely it was quality time.

"My mum loved her mother and we loved our grandmother. She was really a wonderful woman. She was sweet, kind and loving. She used to work at the library in Almondbury and had lots of friends there.

"I did lots of interesting things with both my grandparents. They took me to museums, to the seaside, to Castle Hill, Bolton Abbey and many other lovely places.

"I never visited her while she was at The Kirkwood. My young sister went to visit her with my mum a few weeks before she died.

"However she was only five so I doubt she has strong memories of that time. I was also living in Italy with my family so my mum didn't go into details with me and my siblings. What I know for sure is that my grandfather was really grateful for what The Kirkwood did for her.

"My grandad Geoffrey died when I was over 40, and I realize how lucky I am to have had a grandfather for so long. He was bright and always did crosswords. He liked watching the news or listening to classical music, and if I put my favorite music on he would say: 'What's that noise!' and that would make me really laugh.

"He was always willing to share his life experiences with me. I remember we once went to look for his grandparent's graves in an abandoned cemetery. It had become a forest so it was quite an adventure.

"He took me to the house where he grew up, we stayed there for a little while looking at it remembering his childhood. It was good to share these 'adventures' with him.

"When grandad died he was in a home but for 26 years he supported The Kirkwood because of how they cared for my grandma.

"I am quite sure he used to send some money on his birthday and if I am not mistaken he also left some money when he died. On his 80th birthday he asked for donations for The Kirkwood and he also bought a tile in The Kirkwood garden when they were renovating it, and he wrote an inscription to my grandma. My sister and my nother went to see it a few years ago."

Both Vittoria and Janet are looking forward to the walk on the 1st July. Vittoria commented: "My mum did the walk a few years ago. with her brother John. This year my uncle won't be taking part, but my mum booked the plane tickets to come for the walk, determined to do it alone. When she told me I immediately said I wanted to do the walk too to share that experience with her. So I booked the same plane tickets.

"We are both very excited and we are looking forward to it. My mum has very good memories of the previous walk she did. "She said walking in the darkness of the night was wonderful. She also said that many people were wearing the photo of their beloved ones on their T-shirts, and she really liked that too."