Kathleen Crawford

21/04/1945- 19/02/2018

Everyones Aunty. My aunty Kathy was born in Scotland but sadly lost her mum when she was a toddler then ended up living with her nan who later passed away too. She was then moved all the way to London, where she spent most of her childhood in foster care. She moved to Poplar almost 40 years ago. My mum and sister moved to the UK from Bangladesh in 1983. My older sister Najma introduced herself and she has been our Auntie ever since. She helped my parents raise us 5 siblings as well as spoiling the 6 grandchildren rotton. We enjoyed trips to the Museum, city tours, theatres, cinemas, seasides, France and Belgium she helped us make the best memories. Auntie became homebound in 2009 when she had a stroke, but she refused to move from her 3rd floor flat as she was so close to us as we were to her. Me and my Sister Najma cared for her at home. We didn’t want our aunt to go into a carehome, she was like blood to us and it was our duty to take care of her as she did to us all our lives. Several times over the last 35yrs my parents and Aunty had many housing offers, however something wouldn’t work out. Everyone would have anxiety on how to tell Aunty. At times my younger sister would torment her saying we accepted the offer and she would go into one, throw a strop and tell us all to ‘piss off’ 😂🙈 when she found out it wasn’t true she would cheer and celebrate. For some reason God never separated us and we are so thankful for that. We went through the ups and downs of life all together, she was like a sibling to my parents, the best aunty and nanny ever to the rest of us. We started as neighbours but ended up being family. She passed away at home last February and it has been a struggle for every single one of us. My aunt was Catholic it was challenging to organise a burial for her as we are Muslim and have never experienced organising a funeral for someone of another faith. We wanted to give her the best send off without any sort comings. I was very lucky to have the support of our Local charity Neighbours In Poplar and Sister Christine to help us go through with all the arrangements.

I have one last duty to fulfill and I really need help your help. As my aunt had no biological family I would like to keep a legacy of hers alive by helping the Boudin Aid Project build a well in memory of my aunt.

Alima Begum