Angela Norris was born in Bargoed in the Rhymney Valley, South Wales, to Ivor James Lott and Sadie Lott (née Cuff) on Monday 11th July 1955.  She was born and lived at 66 Heolddu Grove before moving to  93 Gilfach Street, Bargoed, in around 1960. She attended the now-obsolete Bargoed Grammar Technical School (where she went by the nickname ‘Spider’). She spent a brief amount of time living in Southampton with her Uncle William ('Bill') Enos Cuff and his wife Esther ('Hetty'). While at school, Angela harboured dreams of attending culinary school but unfortunately, as part of a large family, cost prevented this dream being realised (subsequently, from her 50s onward, she lost her passion for cooking). Outside of school, she and her family attended church at Hanbury Road English Baptist Chapel, where she also partook in Sunday school. The Christianity she learned there was a faith she retained, with varying degrees of clarity and commitment, for the rest of her life. As a child (and indeed for the rest of her life), she loved the home-made ice cream served at L. Ricci and Sons’ ‘The Square Café’. She and her friends would frequent the YMCA in Gilfach, arcades, and the local park. They also went swimming at the baths in the summer. Throughout her childhood, she often got into mischief with her Dad routinely needing to take her to the A&E at the now-demolished Caerphilly District Miners’ Hospital (Ysbyty'r Glowyr Caerffili).

When she left school, she took some odd jobs, including a job at the Hanbury cinema in Bargoed, where she filled an assistant manager-type and cleaner role; and a job as a sewing machine operator. She enjoyed a thriving social life, including participating in and winning a beauty pageant.

In 1973, Angela gave birth to Amanda Jane, an event that marked the beginning of her primary vocation and passion: motherhood. Shortly after the birth of Amanda, Angela moved into her first home as an independent woman: a two-bed flat in Claerwen, Gelligaer. It was while living in Gelligaer that Angela met Colin Hughes, a motorbike-riding Mancunian six years her senior. Soon enough, Angela was back in Bargoed as her and Colin bought their first home (35 John Street) together, shortly after they wed in early 1980. Together with Colin, Angela had four children: Carla (b. 1977), Dean (b. 1981), Lee (b. 1983), and Scott (b. 1986). During this time, Angela was a committed housewife and mother whose life revolved around her children, especially as Amanda had begun suffering from vision impairment from the late 1970s. She enjoyed visits to the cinema with friends and going dancing when DJ Anthony Furtek played at the YMCA. The family, likewise, enjoyed holidays in Porthcawl and Trecco Bay.

Over the course of the 1980s, Angela’s marriage with Colin began the break down. Shortly after Scott’s birth, their union came to an end. It was during this period that Angela had to leave her home due to a house fire. She and her young family spent some time between addresses, eventually re-settling in a maisonette at Oak Place on the Bargoed site. While living there, she took a part-time job as a cleaner, but continued to enjoy a lively social life, which included frequenting the Capel and participating in darts tournaments. As a single-parent, she relied heavily on her parents’ support and was devastated when her father died suddenly from a heart attack in 1989.

In 1993, Angela met Christopher Paul Norris, an Oxfordshire-based factory worker who was visiting Bargoed. Chris had seen Angela during an earlier visit to Bargoed but only spoke to her for the first time during a night out at the Working Men’s Club in Gilfach. Soon enough Angela and her children moved to Kynaston Road, Didcot in Oxfordshire to live with Chris, and the couple wed at Didcot Methodist Church on August 6th 1994. Angela had two children with Chris, Luke (b. 1994) and Matthew James (b.1996), the latter being named after her father.

Angela lived with Chris, fulfilling the role of mother and housewife, for many years. Alongside being a housewife, Angela cared for her daughter Amanda, and Chris’ aging mother and aunt until they passed away in 2000, 2003 and 2004 respectively. Angela never recovered from the loss of Amanda from Juvenile Battens disease. Outside of domestic work, she spent time as a private cleaner to some local musicians and a local artist. Moreover, following Amanda’s passing, Angela created a tribute garden for her and became a keen gardener, placing in or winning numerous local gardening competitions. During her time with Chris, she enjoyed holidaying in Weymouth and Spain. She was a member of several clubs in Weymouth. Her all-time favourite holiday was a Christmas mini-cruise on the Pont-Aven. Christmas was always her favourite time of year; she loved watching her kids unwrapping their presents. While living in Didcot, she also routinely travelled back to Bargoed to see her mother (who sadly passed away in 2006), her children (Carla, Dean, and Lee, all of whom had eventually returned to the Valleys), and a rapidly increasing number of grandchildren. When she died, she counted about 30 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

In 2011, Angela was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a course of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery, and the cancer went into full remission. While Angela went on to make a full recovery from breast cancer, she developed COPD and osteoporosis. Despite her conditions impacting her mobility, she lived a full life.

In 2015, Angela separated from Chris, moving to a nearby house. Although they went on to rekindle a platonic relationship, they did not share a home from that point forward. Angela, then still living with her two youngest sons, threw herself once more into family life, investing in her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. During her final years, she became involved with the Oxfordshire-based fundraising organisation, Play2Give, to help support a range of wonderful causes – including Oxford Children’s Hospital. Despite struggling with her mobility, she worked hard to make an impact, even delivering Christmas presents to poorly children on the wards of Oxford Children’s Hospital. In 2015, she also became the proud owner of beautiful yellow Labrador, Simba, that was kindly rehomed by NAWT Berkshire in September 2020 as Angela’s health declined rapidly. For enjoyment outside of caring for her grandchildren, she tended to her garden, went shopping, listened to music (she was a great fan of David Alexander), and watched a number of TV shows (usually, Come Dine with Me or Gogglebox). Angela was also a member of the Marlborough Club in Didcot, where she enjoyed the occasional live performance. Her favourite social event was to P2G annual ball.

In late autumn of 2019, a routine scan found that Angela had a nodule on her lung. The doctors opted not to attempt a wedge resection, taking the view that it would be better to merely keep the nodule under observation. Observation was delayed due to the lockdowns. Sadly, after finally receiving a scan in July 2020, she was diagnosed with extensive stage small cell lung cancer and given 6-12 weeks to live if palliative chemotherapy was not administered. If the chemotherapy proved successful, she could expect a median survival time of 10 months. In late October/early November, Angela underwent a re-staging scan which found, at least for the results that were available, that there had been a partial response and that she would be expected to see Christmas one last time. Unfortunately, the scan also showed evidence of a chest infection. It was later determined that she contracted broncho-pneumonia. Within days of receiving the news that she would be expected to see Christmas, she died peacefully in her sleep at home at approximately 9:55pm on Saturday 7th November 2020 with Carla, Luke and Matthew at her side.

Her funeral was held at South Oxfordshire Crematorium and Memorial Park on Wednesday 18th November 2020 at 3pm. Her willow casket was draped in a Welsh flag. On August 6th 2021, on what would have been her and Chris’ 27th wedding anniversary, most of her ashes will be interred in the grave of her daughter at Kynaston Road Cemetery, Didcot. A commemorative bench is also due to take pride of place in the space behind the grave. A small quantity of her ashes will possibly be sprinkled on her parents’ grave at the Gwaelod y Brithdir Cemetery in New Tredegar. In honour of her life, nearly £2500 has been raised for a number of worthy causes. Play2Give has been instrumental in this. It has pledged to make all of its future donations to Sobell House in her name, will dedicate the next fundraising ball to her, and has instituted an award for volunteers that bears her name (‘The Play2Give Angela Norris Volunteering Award’).