Ivy 1911-2007

Ivy was born in Godley Street and her grandmother was the village midwife who also would sit with the dying and share their final hours with them. She was the middle daughter of three and they attended school where the doctor's surgery and the chemist are now situated.

When she left school Ivy first did domestic work for an elderly lady here on Midland Road and an insurance man who lived on Smithy Hill. Then she had two living in jobs with a family at Birkenshaw and the MacIntosh's of toffee fame at Connyngham Hall, Knaresborough.

She met Arthur, her late husband, when he came from Wakefield to work at the local pits. He lodged for a time with Ivy's parents and through the chapel their friendship developed and 75 years ago this year they married. There were many good years together - though some very hard ones too - but sadly Arthur died in 1974 as a result of the toll taken on him by the years down the pits in poor working conditions. They shared a number of homes together in Royston starting in a historic grammar school cottage overlooking the parish church and finishing at 24 High Street at the top of the Green. Home and Chapel were the centre of their lives, Family and Faith what made them tick.

After Arthur's untimely death Ivy soon moved into the Well Hill Grove community where she stayed until she chose to move to the Methodist Home, Priceholme, at Scarborough 5 years ago today. She has had periods of illness in hospital this last couple of years and this last Christmas it was clear that she needed more nursing care than Priceholme could provide and so she went to Beechwood where she died last week. There she has received all the "tender loving care" she needed. An abundance of rich memories and a continuing interest in friends old and new occupied her daily thoughts and conversation right up to her last hours. She knew that journey's end was near and travelled from this world to the next both calm and serene and full of hope in a loving God and a compassionate Saviour.

When she was in hospital in the summer of 2005 she thought she would put a few memories about her life down on paper and she concluded them with these words: "Every night I say 'Thank you, Lord, for carers, friendship, and family. Please make me worthy of it all. Good night!" She loved keeping scrap books and in one of them is this anonymous quotation that clearly meant a great deal to her: "Death is a method that the Lord has chosen to gather the souls of those who by their time on earth have proved worthy to dwell in the land of new birth."

So today, as we lay her body to rest in the soil of her native village, we thank God for his work of grace in Ivy's life and we have no doubt that she is amongst those "proved worthy to dwell in that land of new birth".

May she rest in peace and rise in glory.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN