Angela Barcroft

Some memories of Angela Barcroft

Our dear friend Angela died on 14th July 2018.

I have known Angela for many years, both of us joining the tennis club back in the early nineties!
She had two young children, Rosie and Tom. When my daughter Lucy was sixteen she used to babysit Rosie and Tom. Our friendship was sealed, and although we were both busy with work and families we often met on the tennis courts for both social and match play.

Angela's great passions were her horse, aptly named ‘Angel', her love of travel, which always seemed to include adventure sports, and tennis.

When her diagnosis of cancer was made in 2010 it was a devastating time for her and her family. Following surgery, she underwent several treatments to keep the cancer at bay. We spent many times together at Mount Vernon hospital, me visiting her whilst she had chemo, and her supporting me with my surgeries following a shattered elbow. What a pair! We had a few tears but mostly we laughed and Angela continued to be a stalwart until the end.

Angela had lots of friends at the tennis club. She really enjoyed the early bird group which she started up, playing on Sunday mornings at the crack of dawn usually with Henrietta, Sharon, Debbie and Cassandra.

Angela played in the Ladies second team usually partnering Hazel, a canny pair to play against! One of my lasting visions of Angela will always be her arriving on court, hair still wet, sunglasses on her head and her very brown legs of which we were all jealous! Gradually over the last year when the cancer had returned she was advised to stop horse riding and eventually no more tennis either, she was devastated, but she still kept smiling and often coming down to share a bottle of wine on the balcony whilst watching a match.

Angela and I started going on regular trips to the theatre seeing a wide range of plays and musicals, we also managed to get tickets to see Ed Sheeran in July but sadly she was too ill to go. Henrietta and Caroline also joined in the theatre trips. The last time I saw Angela was two days before she died, she was at home and still managed a smile as we tried to sing 'Daydream Believer'. She had made a playlist of her favourite 'oldies' for her brother Richard and I asked her for a copy which I often play in the car. 

There has been a white butterfly round courts' since she died and I would like to think that maybe, just maybe, she's keeping an eye on us and checking on those line calls!

Love and miss you loads Angela, my dear friend.

(Jo Burch)