We cannot thank you enough for donating to this page – Mum LOVED babies and this is such a fitting tribute. She would be thrilled to know that your donations, in her name, mean premature and sick babies and their families will get the help and support they need.  In her later years Mum had to deal with vascular dementia which was heartbreaking to witness but she never complained or stopped being utterly devoted to her family. Here’s a bit about Mum:
 
Our wonderful Mum, Judith Ann, was born on 3rd June 1939 to Ada and Bogie Brostoff. Mum was an only child and treasured times were spent with her cousins, especially her beloved cousin Peter who was really more like a brother to her. Mum spent time at Leeds Girls’ High School and it was actually amazing how many times she told us that she’d bumped into old Leeds Girls people in Sainsbury’s and they would always recognise each other even after 40 or 50 odd years!
 
Mum and Dad married on 15th April 1962 and in 2012 they celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary.  They were devoted to each other – whilst being very different people. Mum loved to walk, read, garden, do The Telegraph crossword, sightsee, cook and bake, the opera, the ballet, Shakespeare, theatre and musicals – while Dad loves Manchester United and chocolate biscuits.  She remained calm if not only slightly flustered at having to constantly be places an hour and a half early. But their shared passion was our Leeds community.
 
Mum, together with Dad, worked tirelessly for many different Jewish and non-Jewish charities. Mum was Chairman of the Jewish Israel Appeal and made endless speeches and helped organise 100’s of events – not always easy for someone who was also shy.  Mum was a hugely active volunteer – she just loved her time helping with activities at Donisthorpe Care Home and served lunches on a Friday at the Queenshill Centre and later at the Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Centre, hardly missing a single Friday for over 40 years. She also enjoyed Inner Wheel and accompanying Dad to Rotary weekends and events.
 
Mum’s other big love was animals (especially cats) and babies. Her favourite time of year was when the baby lambs appeared in the fields opposite her home and we would all receive texts telling us that the lambs had arrived! But Mum’s biggest loves were her grandchildren. This was a job that she took the most pride in – she utterly loved every single one of them – Georgina, Tash, Harry, Benjy, Amy and Jacob - and enjoyed special relationships with them all. Mum would play Scrabble and Monopoly for hours with the kids. They loved going there and the day mum bought a cot for the spare bedroom was one of her happiest. There was nothing better after school than piling round to Grandma’s for tea and biscuits – dunked of course! Friday nights at Mum’s were just the best – if you ask the grandchildren “soup” will always be mentioned and of course her chicken, baby potatoes and peas were just devine.
 
Talking of food, we have to mention more about Mum’s legendary cooking and especially her baking. Her cheese cake, lemon cake, ginger cake and cuchen will go down in history – we’ve tried to replicate them but they just never taste or look the same – but we will keep trying I can promise you that. Our house always smelt amazing and our friends loved coming round as there was always something delicious to eat and Mum always made everyone feel so welcome – she adored all our friends.
 
Some of the many words that people have used to describe their memories of Mum to us have included “sweet” “kind” “gentle” –  Mum always said “aren’t people kind?” – how right she was.