Wilf Haddon was the husband of Lily and the son-in-law of Martha Longhurst.
The couple were married at St. Thomas's Church when they were well into their twenties, and several years after the death of Lily's violent father Percy Longhurst. In marrying Lily, Wilf took her away from her sad memories of life at 7 Mawdsley Street with her battling parents and their poverty-stricken life. Wilf prospered in his own work at a firm named Masons, eventually becoming its shop steward and also volunteering as a special constable in July 1961. They were able to enjoy a very comfortable lifestyle with their two daughters and even employ women to help with the cleaning and bringing up the children, but even so their only contact with Martha appeared to be those occasions where they needed her to supplement such help as an unpaid skivvy, such as in May 1963 when she looked after the grandchildren while the parents went on holiday alone. Despite knowing the truth of this deep down, Martha put on a front of being proud of her daughter and son-in-law’s achievements in life which the neighbours tolerated, know that the admiration was not mutual and that she was being treated with contempt by the very people who should have been closest to her in life.
Martha died from a sudden heart attack in May 1964, on the eve of a trip with the Haddons to Spain, her first ever trip abroad. Wilf and Lily made a rare visit back to Mawdsley Street to sort out the belongings and insurance policies in her meagre little house. They were surprised to find a bottle of glyceryl trinitrate, having had no idea that Martha had seen the doctor for heart problems and Wilf was especially puzzled as his mother-in-law had energetically attacked the house work in their own home when she came to visit, rather than him waiting on the pensioner and treating her as a special guest. Lily regretted that she and her mother had never got on and also that they had never offered her a place in their home, but Wilf insisted that they’d never had the room for her.
The Haddons were disappointed to find out that the total of her policies only came to £22, 4/9 and they would have to pay the rest of the funeral costs themselves. Lily had the idea of a funeral tea at a cafe called Normantons, but Ena Sharples pointedly told her that she had been away so long that she had no idea how many close friends Martha had, and Normantons wouldn’t be able to accommodate them all. She therefore insisted it take place in her vestry after a funeral in the Mission of Glad Tidings.
After the burial, Ena acted hostess at the funeral tea, furious as she listened to Lily and Wilf swanking over the neighbours with tales of their posh lifestyle. When she heard Lily saying how much she regretted that Martha had never made it to Spain, she exploded in anger and in front of everyone told the couple that they only asked her to go with them to use her. Lily collapsed in tears and insisted they leave. Although somewhat embarrassed, everyone else present knew the truth of Ena’s words.
With little to want from Martha’s belongings aside from old photographs, Lily and Wilf sold them all as a job lot to Clarrie Butterworth of the Dick Street Furniture Market. The house was emptied and re-let the day after the funeral and the Haddons cut off all ties to their mother’s old life forever.