Registers

BAPTISMS "You have received the light of Christ; walk in this light all the days of your life."

2nd November Matilda Emma REID  

                        Natasha Ruby TIMMS

9th November Brooke Ellie HARRISON

23rd November Robin James Gordon KENNEDY

WEDDINGS

"Marriage is never to be undertaken carelessly, lightly or selfishly..." (from the Wedding Service)

22nd November

Gaynor DAVIES and Tom WILLIAMS

FUNERALS

In the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me.    (Psalm 23 verse 4)

6th September MARY GOUGE, aged 88

Mary was born in Dublin in 1920. One of eight children, she spent her childhood in Kiltimagh in the west of Ireland and came to England at the age of 19 to work in Barclays Bank in Victoria. Although she spent many nights fire watching during the Blitz, Mary enjoyed life in London, being a keen dancer and theatre-goer, and was active in the Young Christian Workers. She and her husband Jim, whom she married in 1950, first set up home in South Harrow. Despite the demands of bringing up three boys - Philip, Paul and Alan - Mary found time to sing in the church choir and help run the local Oxfam shop. After Alan died, she and the family moved to Harefield in the early 1970s. She became an active member of St Paul’s church, helped to organize church bazaars and the ecumenical Women’s Day of Prayer, and volunteered at the hospital. After Jim died in 1987, Mary continued to take part in village life, attending yoga classes and studying Italian, which helped her to befriend many Italians who came to Harefield for transplants. She also enjoyed travelling, and a year after surgery for lung cancer in 1993, she walked to the top of Mount Vesuvius – just to let her surgeon know she was fully recovered! Despite some health problems in recent years, she still led a full and independent life, reading widely, always making time for friends, and taking great delight in the wonderful view from her bedroom window. Mary was a brave, kind, generous and funny lady. She had a deep faith, a great zest for life, and made everyone she met feel welcome and special. After her funeral in a packed St Paul’s, she was buried in the grounds of St Mary’s, a fitting resting place for someone who gave so much to the village she loved.

20th October OLIVE ELIZABETH HIGSON, aged 80

Olive’s family came from Southall, where she continued to live in the same road until she was 73! She was 14, and the War was on, when her working life began at AEC as a typist. During that time she met Darrell at a dance, and in July 1952 they were married at St John’s Church, Southall, living during the early years with her parents. In 1969 they bought a house across the road, and by now had become parents to 2 boys, Darrell Junior and Carl. There was always an annual summer holiday - at places like Wittering and Caister, and she was an excellent housewife and mother, and the home was always immaculate and well run. When the boys were old enough Olive went back to work, and ended up helping to run the Albert Dain Centre for disabled people, for quite a few years. She became very much a supportive and hands-on grandmother, and her most obvious hobby was simply making sure that everyone was happy, though it has to be said she also derived much pleasure from shopping! Her marriage to Darrell was very close and losing him in 1998 was a huge blow. She moved to the Cedars Village in Chorleywood in 2001, and then in 2005 to Denham Garden Village. She was a strong and independent person, who probably therefore masked her failing health through the closing part of her life, as she would never want to be a nuisance to her family, but they will miss her a great deal.

Contact

c/o The Vicarage  

28 Countess Close  

Harefield  

Middlesex  

UB9 6DL  

01895 825960