Written by Paul Hopkins
June Brown was the younger sister of Flo Hopkins (my mother). As a young child, my memories of June are rather hazy, and I’ve found it difficult to place things in the order they probably occurred. I have no memories of June when we lived at 40 West Street, which is now 1 Lees Way. June came to stay with us at 24 The Woodlands, soon after we moved into this brand-new council house in 1950.
June was born in Kettering, at 21 Connaught Street, and her only other home was with us at 24 The Woodlands – apart, that is, from a forced stay of about two years in Rushden Sanatorium with tuberculosis. We used to make family visits on the bus at weekends – a long trip in those days. On each of those visits, I cannot remember her ever looking poorly or unhappy. Even photographs taken at the time always show her with a smile on her face.
June worked as a shop manageress in the former Moore’s Wool Shop in Kettering, and later in Geddington as a shop assistant at the Co-op, the Pot Shop, and part-time at the Post Office. I remember her saying to me that, with her pension from the Co-op and her state pension, she was earning more in retirement than when she was working.
June and her sister Flo were a formidable force within the village, forever raising money for local causes. The Village Hall, Macmillan Nurses, the Newsletter and others often benefitted from their fundraising. They were also the prime movers behind the Age Concern Day Centre in the village. From Parish Council Chairmen to Town Mayors, no one had “made it” until they had received an invitation from June or Flo to join them at the top table of the Geddington Age Concern Christmas Dinner.
June also arranged coach trips for days out to wherever elderly people liked to go. This continued after the death of Flo, but June was often left out of pocket because she would never consider upping the price if she could not fill the bus.
June enjoyed her shopping trips into Kettering and would often go two or three times a week. Her one gripe was the cutting back of the bus service in Geddington. She was aware of people, like herself, whose pleasure it was to escape into town for a little retail therapy. She often complained about timetables that made travelling three miles into town an all-day affair.
June died peacefully at home in 2019.
Paul Hopkins