Belong Crewe customer, Gillian Wakeley's story. As told by her son, Jim

Jim shares with us how his mother’s love of music has shaped her life and the lives of everyone around her.
My mother was born in Crewe in 1940 to Ethel (a confectioner) and Walter Lomas (an accountant). The middle child of three siblings, she had a happy childhood, spending much time playing outdoors with older brother, Keith, and younger sister, Jean, in the shadow of Crewe Railway Works and the Rolls Royce Factory.
Gill's love was music, rather than academia, and upon finishing school, went to Austria to study it. She also worked as an auxiliary nurse for a spell, but music was in her blood and is what brought her and my father, Anthony, together. Gill was an accompanist and conductor for the Crewe Male Voice Choir, and my father was a singer. They married in July 1971 and went on to have two sons – Richard in 1978 and myself in 1980. Today, Mum also has three granddaughters.
Before getting married, Gill also studied music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where she became an accomplished pianist and vocalist. She went on to impart her expertise, working as a teacher at the former Boys Grammar School in Crewe and then as a lecturer at Madeley College, near Stoke.
Later, she worked from home and provided private piano, voice, and violin tuition. At the same time, she ran a music group for children, ‘Quavers’, and it was this teaching that was used extensively in the book ‘Adventures in Music for the Very Young’ (1984), which is still available to buy online. Derek Griffiths and Carol Leader from the long running BBC programme, Play School, were also involved and the book won the 1985 Royal Society of Arts' Radcliffe Award for Graphic Excellence in Music Publishing.
Gill ended up teaching music at Monks Coppenhall Primary School in Maw Green until she retired at the turn of the millennium. Even today, a lot of people still recognise mum when we’re out and about – many of whom were inspired to take up music themselves. Mum was passionate about the benefits and enjoyment of learning a musical instrument in particular. As we grew up, Richard’s instruments were the cello and guitar, while I studied the violin, then later, percussion and drums.
After retirement, Gill continued to enjoy music. She performed in the Hallé Choir in Manchester (which she'd regularly enjoyed watching as a student), as well as other ensembles in the city. Never one to sit still, she also took up Scottish dancing and yoga, and for the latter she sometimes leads sessions on the household.
Mum is happy at Belong and, despite her poor memory and the challenges of dementia, you can take her to the piano on her household and she’s in her element – her ability to play music remains exceptional.
Pictures:
1. Gillian in her younger days
2. Jim, Gillian and Richard in the 1980s
3. Gillian and Richard at the piano
4. Gillian pictured recently, enjoying dominoes with Lindsay Cope-Williams, Lead Support Worker