Dear Aunty Peggy – as she was always known to our family; distinct from Great Peg who was Aunty Peggy’s aunt and mother to Aunty Peggy’s close cousins, Rosemary, Bunty and Roddy.  She would still meet with them for lunch at her favourite Fortnum and Mason’s when she was well in her eighties.  She was an expert in travelling around London on the buses – taking full advantage of them being free for senior citizens.   She loved food and finer dining, but being brought up in the Great Depression she could not bear to see food wasted.  Her motto was “waste not, want not’.  She would laugh when she explained that she had two dustbins: one outside and one within her!! 
 
I was the first born to give her the status of aunt, and she was part of the fabric of my life for exactly 77 and a half years.  She was always loving, caring and interested, addressing you with terms of endearment such as lovey, ducky, dearie and darling.  She would break into song, and had many in her repertoire, including the ‘Lily of Laguna’, which may go back to hearing the Bing Crosby, Mary Martin version in 1942.   During that time, she was actively serving in the WRAF.  I always loved the photo of her in uniform in my mother’s photo collection (see below).
 
When she was on her own, later in life, she loved to help others.  She continued to type letters for a hospital specialist she had worked for, well into her eighties.  She helped out at the church and with the older parishioners needing support, even though she was often older than them.  And of course, she remained a committed member and ardent supporter of the Conservative party.    The Finchley constituency kept in touch with her and she would tell me that she was still helping by ‘stuffing envelopes’ for mail-outs well into her nineties.   She was a great support to me when my mother, her eldest sister, became incapacitated in her last years, and she would send my mother Dr Zeuss books to help her regain the language she had lost from a stroke.  
 
She was so lucky that she kept her faculties and her sharp mind even in her last years.  Whenever I visited from New Zealand, or phoned, she would engage in conversation about world affairs, as she followed the news at home and abroad and also what was going on in Parliament.   There is a photo of us during a visit in 2013 below.
 
It was always a pleasure to see her rise to the occasion at family gatherings.  She recognised that she ‘scrubbed up well’ and dressed elegantly.  More often than not she was the ‘life and soul’ of the party.   She loved a drink on those occasions and sometimes a cigarette. At those times, when the four Taylor sisters were together, they were a tight four, and talked so much to, over and above each other, that I seemed that there were always several conversations going on at once!
 
I have many lovely memories of Aunty Peggy.  In my house I regularly use the Reader’s Digest Cook book that she gave us for a wedding present, and the china figurine of Tuesday’s Child, full of grace, that was her 21st birthday present to me.  I still cook and dance.  I will miss her a lot and am glad that I can still hear her voice in my memory.
 
Prue Dodge (nee Vincent)
Eldest child of Aunty Peg’s eldest sister, Joan.