Memorial – Ros Munton – The Best of Bookkeepers

Ros Weaver (Munton), our greatly missed bookkeeper
on her wedding day, 21st July 2012

It is with great sadness that I write this short tribute to our dear friend and bookkeeper, Ros Weaver, or Ros Munton as you would have known her if you bought anything from us over the years.

Ros passed away on 15th December at home with her family.

Ros was with me right from the start of Vinehouse. I worked with her for longer than any other single person in my entire career. It was always a pleasure and, more often than not, great fun. When we have helped clients to recruit a bookkeeper Ros has always been our gold standard, and it’s hard to imagine that anyone else could ever take that place.

She checked all the advertisements I wrote for bookkeepers, usually spotting the odd spelling mistake and always telling me they needed to be a bit longer. She was always right.

In all the time we worked together, Ros made about five mistakes. Charlie and I loved those days, because it made us feel a bit better. Most of the time she pointed out our numerous mistakes. But always with humour and good grace.

She had the rare ability to get the detail right and also see the bigger picture. She was flexible, thoughtful and completely, utterly reliable.

But much more than that, she was always delightful to work with.

I first spoke with Ros when I interviewed her for the post of bookkeeper at Vinehouse. This was in the early days of our recruitment process. It was not nearly as involved a procedure as it is now. However, it was still obvious that she was a head and shoulders above any of the others.

I was looking for someone who would point out when I had made a mistake, who would make sure we followed our procedures but would also produce figures the way I wanted them. So I knew I needed someone who might possibly be a bit annoying at times. Ros managed to do all of this and more without being the least bit annoying.

Over the years she did all those accounting and bookkeeping things that most of us find tedious, annoying or boring both quickly and efficiently. She chased up those people who paid late and she made sure that we had all the information we needed to keep on top of the cash flow. She chased us up when we didn’t hand our expenses in on time and made sure our figures were always right.

She wrestled with the cumbersome and awkward software, websites and systems that we threw at her. She even managed to deal with a string of not very good accountants. She always had all the figures they needed ready promptly and organised exactly as we wanted them.

We are particular about how we allocate our expenses; we don’t even have petty cash. Everything is accounted for. So, when we got the accounts back at the end of the year, usually with a ‘miscellaneous’ category added with several hundred pounds mysteriously allocated to it, it would be Ros who sorted them out. She would always have a chuckle at what they’d done.

We would find another accountant. But never another bookkeeper.

When we were all away she would take on other responsibilities too and always have everything in order when we got back.

Ros carried on working with us through most of her illness right up till the end of October.

She never let us down in all the 17 years we worked together and I can’t remember her having any time off sick. Needless to say, she left everything in order for her successor. Thinking of other till the last.

At her funeral we learned of all kinds of good deeds things Ros had done to help others throughout her life. Typically she did not boast about them or even mention them, she just got on and helped people whenever she had the chance.

If you are a Lord of the Rings fan you may not be aware that JRR Tolkien had a slightly different view of the story to many of those who have read it. He saw Sam as the hero, not Frodo, who most think of as the main character. Sam was the one who carried the bags, did the cooking, and just kept everything going without taking any of the credit. That was how Ros was to us.

It is hard to imagine life without Ros and our thoughts are with her family.
Ros was cared for very well by the Marie Curie nurses. She asked that donations be made to them instead of flowers when she died. If you would like to make a donation in her memory, here is a link.

http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/