Kathleen Shattock Tribute

Kathleen Shattock - 18th August 1942 to 8th September 2020

Kathy was born in Guildford on 18th August 1941. Her family were bombed out of their home in Belfast during the Second World War and so the family went to travel to stay with relatives in Guildford where she was born.  After the war they moved back to Belfast.  She was the fifth of seven children and grew up in Belfast and she started working from 14 years of age in manufacturing linen and cotton industries. She enjoyed being outdoors and was sporty, enjoying games of all sorts. Kathy had a sense of adventure and she toured Ireland riding her scooter with her sister on the back. She had a talent for music and played the bagpipes in the Belfast band. She had a good ear for music and could name some tunes by just hearing one note. Kathy had strong principles and stuck to them, even being sacked from her job in the 60s because she would not go out on strike and stayed working on her machine.

By listening to Radio Luxembourg and the music of the time in the 1960s she also heard the religious programme, the World Tomorrow. This brought her into contact with Ambassador College in England, which she attended in the 1960s as a student.

She met Tom at church in 1967 in Denison House in London and they were married in 1968. They moved to Bricket Wood when Tom worked in the printing press. Tom & Kathy started T & K Furniture in 1972 and after a few years they opened their first shop in Katherine Street, St Albans. Over the years Kathy always supported Tom and the furniture business whilst also performing motherly duties for her four children.  T & K Furniture expanded over the years and during the 48 years there were shops in Bushy, Dunstable, Luton, Bedford, Ampthill and Leighton Buzzard.  Tom & Kathy retired from T & K Furniture in 2019 and their children and grandchildren now manage and work in the business based at the shop in Leighton Buzzard.  When Kathy retired from the business it was her wish that her children and grandchildren will carry on the family furniture business into the future.

In 1981, having moved to Newbury Manor, Silsoe, she was the primary facilitator for the annual Adventure Camp.  This camp was a long weekend of learning and fun for children and would be attended by as many as 100 staff and children.  The children who attended these camps are now adults and they all have fond memories of the experience at these camps and especially they all remember Kathy.  Kathy’s passion was to look after the grounds at Newbury Manor often singlehanded and she would do this selflessly while bringing up her children and supporting Tom in the family business.

As well as her family responsibility, with Tom she supported church and Christian missions in particular in India and South Africa and was able to visit both countries in the past.

She loved poetry and could write verse.

Kathy’s passing away on 8^th September 2020 was so sad, she had suffered from cancer and the diagnosis and her decline was so very fast all during 2020.  All her children were with her in her last days and she is now buried at The Parish Church of St James the Great, Silsoe.

Through good cooperation in the family and the next generations, the plan is to keep the family furniture business, T & K Furniture and the family home, Newbury Manor in good order.  The family are determined to keep the fond memories of Kathy alive.