Lives: Above the newsagents in the High Street

Age: Late 60’s

Appearance: Short and plump with steely-grey hair cut into a short bob. Grey eyes.

Liz bustles! To all appearances a very capable no-nonsense woman, she runs the newsagents with the efficiency of a military exercise but when it comes to Geoff and her family, she is as soft as butter.

Family: Husband: Geoffrey

            Children: Jack, Wendy and Anthony             

           

Background: Born in Milliwick the elder of two children, Elizabeth Jennings first met Geoff Applewhite whose parents ran the small newsagents and tobacconists, at the junior school in the village.

When Liz went on to secondary school, they each made their own circle of friends and, although they would acknowledge each other if they met, would make no particular effort to seek each other out. They lost touch completely when, after obtaining her qualifications as a Nursery Nurse at college, she moved out of the area to take up a post as a nanny. Their paths weren’t to cross again until her charges had each reached the age when they were sent away to boarding school and she returned home to take a short break before finding another post rather than her usual flying visit.

Liz describes their meeting again as her ‘magic moment’. While helping out at a church bazaar, she spotted Geoff across the village hall, pushing his mother’s wheelchair. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the man he had grown into and, seeing her for the first time in more than ten years, Geoff gaped as their eyes met. Prodded into action by his amused mother, who insisted that she be ‘parked’ next to the refreshment tables, he went to talk to Liz. He greeted her shyly but to them both it felt like they had never been apart. Within weeks, they were married and Liz moved into the accommodation at the shop where she willingly took care of her frail mother-in-law until her death a short time afterwards.

To Liz, there was no question of them moving on after Clara Applewhite died. Geoff had been running the shop almost single-handedly since his father’s death, choosing not to pursue a career of his own for the sake of his mother and it was all that he knew. With their three children coming in quick succession, he was still left to be solely responsible for the shop for most of the time but with a loving, if often chaotic, home life, it was a cross he was happy to bear.

Currently: Once her children were of school age, Liz spent more time helping out in the shop. With all three now adult, she splits her time between being behind the counter and keeping the house and Geoff in order.

Please use your back button

to return to chapter page.

ELIZABETH (Liz) APPLEWHITE nee Jennings

Runs the village newsagents