Pat Connolly was born in Liverpool on September 17th, 1940 as war raged throughout Europe. Her father, Joe was an electrician at the time, serving the war effort by working on Nazi ships and submarines captured by the Allies. Her mother, Mabel, was a dressmaker. Pat was Joe and Mabel’s second child – they’d lost their first, Joan, to diphtheria. Pat’s early days were fraught with danger. The family lived in Bootle, the suburb of Liverpool that was almost destroyed during the Nazi air raids in May 1941  Pat was hidden in a drawer during these raids. 

Joe and Mabel had four more children, Monica and Mike, who were closest in age to Pat, and Daniel and Anne, who were much younger. Pat doted on her youngest siblings, cooking for them and taking them on trips to Formby beach.  She was honing the maternal skills that would make her such a good mother to her own three children, later in life. 
 
Pat was a success at school, her sharp mind ensuring that she finished near the top of her cohort to gain entry to Seafield Grammar School in Crosby.  At Seafield, she vied with Rita Hunt for top ranking. However, as a girl from Bootle, as opposed to the more affluent area of Crosby, she was considered “unsuitable” for taking Latin.  She took Spanish instead.  It would prove significant. 
 
When she wasn’t taking care of Daniel and Anne, the teenage Pat would relax with a good book, or go dancing at the Holy Rosary in Old Roan. She would help her Dad, who was now a bookmaker, by collecting “clock bags”, bundles of cash from the street reps.  When betting shops were made legal some time later, she would work in her Dad’s shop at weekends where “you could cut the smoke with a knife”. 
 
Upon leaving school, her love of books led her to start work in a library. Her love of dancing took her to Reeces Ballroom, the Grafton, the world famous Cavern Club and on one lifechanging moment, to the Jacaranda in Liverpool. That was when the 18 year old met Pepe Padila, a Spaniard working on cruise ships sailing between Liverpool and South America. The couple fell in love. Pepe would return to sea for months at a time, but when the ship docked in Liverpool, he would spend every day with Pat for the fortnight or so he was  ashore.  They went swimming in New Brighton, drank wine at Formby beach, and they always went dancing.   When Pepe returned to sea, Pat would console herself by listening to Spanish records, such as La Paloma and Besame Mucho.
 
But Pepe wasn’t the only one with the travel bug. When she was around 20 years old, Pat hitched a ride on Pepe’s ship with her friend Maureen, sailing to his home town of Santander.  It was a very different world to the vibrant scene they’d left in Liverpool. As Pat would recall, in Santander, a courting couple could be arrested for kissing in public. But the two girls had a ball anyway, visiting the town’s glorious beaches, and especially El Puntal.

When Pepe finally left his sea legs behind him to settle in Liverpool, Pat wasn’t quite done with her own travel dreams. She had fallen in love with Spanish culture, eating gambas, or drinking la bota on the beach. She had started working in a Spanish bank and had a Spanish boyfriend. She had even decided her first born would one day be called Ramon. So when the opportunity arose to teach  English as foreign language to the families of diplomats in Madrid in 1964, she could not resist. Madrid excited her.
 
With his girl in Madrid, Pepe left Liverpool for London. By the time Pat returned the following summer,  Pepe was also back on Merseyside. “What are your intentions?”, asked  Pat’s father, Joe, of the lovestruck Spaniard. Pepe had waited long enough and he finally asked Pat to marry him. “I’m not saying yes on the phone”, she replied, “ask me in person”. So he did.

On the 28th May 1966, Pat and Pepe were married at St Joseph’s in Blundellsands. They honeymooned in Marbella and set up home in Maghull.  Their son, Ramón arrived less than a year later, and daughter, Susie, soon after. Pat’s maternal instincts kicked in.  Plans to emigrate to Vancouver were shelved, and the young family moved, instead, to Formby at the end of the 1960s.  But the travel bug remained. Keen for a new adventure, Pat encouraged Pepe to apply for a job in a hotel in Tenerife. 
 
The family moved to Puerto de la Cruz, living in a small flat next to a banana plantation. They enjoyed the facilities at the five star hotel but after a year or so, Pat started to miss her home. She was a proud Liverpudlian who loved the city of her birth. After returning to Formby, in the early 1970s, she would remain on Merseyside for the rest of her life. 
 
In the mid 70s, Pat and Pepe had their third child, Tony. Despite the demands of bringing up a young family, Pat was determined to return to education, after encouragement from her sister, Monica. She taught herself Spanish A level and secured a place at the University of Liverpool as a mature student, studying Hispanic Studies.  It is testimony to her brilliant mind that she succeeded in her degree whilst remaining as devoted as ever to her three kids.  In the end, Pat spoke five languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French. 
 
Pat became a teacher, specialising in Modern Languages, and inspiring many kids at schools across the region. This included future cabinet minister and Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham., whom she taught Spanish A level.  But above all, Pat was a wonderful Mum to her three children, and later a Grandma to their children.  When she took early retirement in the 1990s, she would take care of Ramon’s kids for a couple of days each week.  She took care of people her whole life – her siblings, her children and her grandchildren - and she was wonderful at it. 
 
Pat loved to read, to dance and to travel. When she travelled, she was generally drawn to sun and seafood - gambas, calamares,  boquerones, and if the occasion merited, lobster.  On one  birthday, Pepe went to the market early to buy a live lobster for dinner later that day. When he returned with her still asleep, he put the lobster in her bed!

Pat and Pepe were two parts of a whole. In their retirement, they took cruises together as part of a scheme for Spanish pensioners. Pat’s health began to deteriorate in later years, and it was tough for her, but her mind never lost its sharpness. She was as technologically savvy as those a quarter of her age and spent time researching her family history, finding relatives including the presenter Anne Robinson. She doted on all her grandchildren, Kirsten, Adam, Elliot, Lucas, Jess and Bella and adored the time she spent with them. Her family was everything to her and she was to them.  
 
One of Pat’s happiest recent memories was driving the Liverpool Duck Boat on her 70th birthday, laughing along with her family as she swung the duck wildly through the harbour. She loved going into town to see the Tall Ships and dining at the newest restaurants Liverpool had to offer.  She would ask to be driven through the streets of Liverpool City Centre on a Saturday night to see where the young people would go out and what they were wearing, no doubt reminded of her own heyday in the fifties and sixties.
 
A proud Scouser her whole life, Pat finally left us, on August 24th 2022, in peace,  surrounded by her family and all the love that she herself had brought into our world.