I Never for One Moment Ever Thought I Would Have to Stand Here and Extol the Virtues of My Beautiful Wife Tim and I Are Humbl
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I never for one moment ever thought I would have to stand here and extol the virtues of my beautiful wife Tim and I are humbled and gratified by the many expressions of sympathy- the letters cards emails and phone calls. In your wonderful letters many of you said you could not find words to express your feelings but you all did because you wrote from the heart about my lovely Vicks who was elegant, smart, loving, caring with an enormous capability to make and keep friends. She was the glue which held the extended family together. She was so well, fit and just loving her life riding racehorses every day with her best friend Tricia– a foal due next month and a first grandchild in August, ringing church bells in Handley, and Wynnstay point-to-point Secretary. In the odd moment when she was feeling down she would say I haven’t achieved much in my life – well Vicks there are about 600 people here who would disagree! There is a memories board at the Calveley where you can add your recollections Vicki Arden was born on 12th April 1951 at Newton Hall just about a mile from here. Her father Ronald, was a dairy farmer and her mother Rhoda was the loveliest lady you would ever wish to meet and she and Vicki were very very close As a child she was desperate to get a pony and her mother persuaded her father to buy ponies for her and Richard. They rode the ponies down the village and to gymkhanas etc. Vicki started hunting with the Cheshire Hunt at 12 when Brian Smith was her minder and later when she had a Landrover and trailer she took Brian to the Meets and they had many escapades together Educated at Queens School where she excelled in Maths and Physics and got an “A” at A-level and won the Maths Prize. She then went to London University to study Maths but came home most weekends to hunt. Her first thoroughbred was Even Me for hunting and point-to-pointing but she had a few falls and never achieved better than 3rd racing as the likes of the Cookes, Williamsons, Astons all had faster horses but she then had the bug for racing. After graduation she went to work for Shell at Thornton in the computer department which gave her the income to buy her beloved blue MGB GT and then a little 15.3 hh pigeon-toed thoroughbred mare from Harry Faulkner, called Cholmondeley Lane. The mare was sent to her cousin Robin Williams to train and ride but when success was not forthcoming she took the mare back and trained her herself and got Simon Crank to ride her and it was not long till she was in the winners’ enclosure at Mucklestone. Our paths crossed in November 1981when I was invited to a beachware fancy dress party at Cotton Abbotts on the coldest night ever recorded in Waverton -20C with deep snow everywhere. I didn’t fancy turning up in a swimsuit on my own so imported an ex-girlfriend from Leeds for the evening and set off wearing an Edwardian striped bathing suit, straw boater and false moustache – it was not a great look! As it turned out I had been invited as the “spare” to partner Eddie & Val Walley’s niece Vicki who hated fancy dress and instead wore a stunning Jump suit and there was embarrassment all round. After Miss Leeds was sent home I did the honourable thing and invited Vicki out for something to eat a few days later. I thought I would impress and surprise her and booked somewhere really smart which was a new restaurant in Frodsham. So I put on my best suit and Vicki turned up in a smart fur coat but underneath had on jeans and a jumper thinking we were going to some pub and she just hated being underdressed and to this day reminded me of that faux pas whenever I was not clear about dress code. Just like the wife in Burns’ Tam o’ Shanter Gathering her brows like gathering storm Nursing her wrath to keep it warm. So in our first 2 meetings I found out her pet hates – fancy dress parties and Surprises. Next was a party at Will & Sheila Aldersey’s with snow still deep and I was in London on business and the train struggled back to Crewe and when I got to Newton Hall at 10pm Vicki had already gone to the party in the Landrover so when I knocked on the door I was greeted by a lady in curlers and flannelette nightie – my first encounter with my future mother-in-law – and they say always look at the mother-in-law because that’s what the wife will turn into! Happily my Vicks never wore curlers or flannelette in bed. Things got better from then as all hunting was off and I was playing rugby for Chester and this too was off so romance blossomed and Vicki went with me to Scotland for New Year and charmed my family. We were very much in love and I asked her to marry me at the end of January 1982 and we became engaged on St Valentines’ Day. That Easter I went on rugby tour with Chester and Vicki took Cholmondeley Lane to Whittington where she won with Simon Crank riding then 2nd at Alpraham to Richard Aston in a strong Hunt Race . We married in this Church on 30th June as Ronald, her father, was not in the best of health and I had a house in Waverton where we started our married life. Then I was offered a job in Northumberland to manage John Moffitt’s farming business and we moved North in November along with Ross and Cholmondeley Lane, 2 wonderful capable hunters able to go well across Saighton and beyond. I joined Tynedale Rugby Club while Vicks hunted with the Tynedale. She found it hard in new environment away from friends and family and her father died soon after we moved and when I turned up at the funeral with a split lip and black eye from rugby it was decided that I would hang up my boots at 33 and Vicks would teach me to ride. My first day’s cubbing with the Tynedale lasted 6 hours and I was hooked on it. Cholmondeley Lane suffered a bad cut out hunting but raced again at Whittington in 1984 where she won a Men’s Open at 25-1, then won the Open at Corbridge and was entered for the Heart of All England Hunter Chase at Hexham in April and won at 12-1 and it was a very happy Vicki who received the trophy especially as some Cheshre luminaries were present – including George Owen and his wife and Col Churton. The mare went on next season to win at Alnwick and was retired in 1986 and sent to stud to be mated to Celtic Cone. She returned in foal and Vicki also became pregnant but unfortunately the mare reabsorbed so Vicki hunted her up to November next season as her consultant assured her the baby was not due till the end of January. But he was wrong and Tim arrived full term on December 29th 1986 by caesarian section. So Vicki was in hospital for 10 days and I visited her early on New Year’s Day which was a beautiful cold and bright day and I then rushed home and saddled up Cholmondeley Lane and had a wonderful day with the Tynedale. When she found out all hell broke loose and 35 years on in times of stress I would be reminded “ you hunted my beautiful horse when I was stuck in hospital with your son” – she nursed that wrath to keep it warm! Vicki was a fantastic mother and I will leave that to Tim. We left Northumberland in 1990 to take a farm tenancy in Mobberley where we had 14 happy years breeding Holsteins and running an AI service and Vicks was involved in everything and she also had time to hunt with the Cheshire Forest of which I became Joint Master in 1998 and Vicks was the perfect Master’s wife ensuring I was properly turned out and supporting me in every way. When Tim reached 16, after 8 years hunting and Pony Club, he told his mother that he would like ride in point-to-points – this was probably the thing his mother most wished to hear so off we went back to Northumberland and Nick Hargreave found us the grey horse Springwood White. Vicki just loved this horse and was in her element training him and eventually seeing Tim ride him at Aintree, Cheltenham, Cartmel and many other courses. When the runway 2 at Manchester cut through the farm we moved to Milton Green in 2004 just inside Wynnstay country and we joined that Hunt and Vicki just adored Autumn Hunting when she could get close to those beautiful hounds and see them working. In 2006 she was asked by Johnnie Turner to become P2P Secretary to which she agreed and really enjoyed those 11 years till she was taken from us on the day of the 22nd meeting which was the last she planned to do. When Vicki asked anyone to help at the P2P they readily agreed – she was incredibly persuasive and if there is point-to-pointing in Heaven I know who the new Secretary will be.