Obituary

Hilda Margaret Neal

9th June 1927 – 18th October 2006

A very smart lady – fastidious in her appearance – she wore pretty blouses decorated by lovely brooches. Her hair was swept up regally on her head. She loved children and was passionate about enlarging their vision and their enjoyment of the world around them through education.

This is how Margaret is fondly remembered by her friends, and by so many former pupils who would meet her in Andover and greet her with warm thanks for the influence she had had on their lives.

Sadly the last years were hard for her and this Margaret who so many knew and loved was gradually being lost through the progress of a dementia which combined Alzheimer’s with Parkinson’s disease.

She was born in Tilehurst, Reading, the daughter of a master baker. She hated the name Hilda and so became known by everyone as Margaret. Initially she trained as an opera singer. She loved music and had a glorious contralto voice which we later enjoyed in our church choir.

During the war years, while she was working for the Great Western Railway Company, she met Derrick and they married just after the war. They started married life on Canvey Island, where two sons, Doug and Bob, were born, and where they were flooded out quite dramatically in 1953. They emigrated to Canada for a few years, where their third son, Brod – named after the tough cop, Broderick Crawford, was born.

Margaret trained at Brentwood College as a mature student and then began her brilliant career teaching infants, showing great insight into just how children learn, particularly in reading. During her time here she taught in Whitchurch and at Knights Enham schools. She was an active member of the church and the church choir. She always had time for her family, including her grandchildren, Matt and Jo, whom she adored.

Life was never the same for her after her beloved Derrick died in 1994, and it became increasingly hard with her illness. Her family and friends have lots of very good memories of her and our thoughts and prayers go out to them now in their loss.

Nona Harrison

A message from Margaret Neal’s family. We would very much like to thank the people who came to the service. In accordance with her wishes, instead of a reception afterwards or flowers, we asked people to make donations to be divided equally between the pre-school playgroup and the church.

Confirmation at Longparish Church

The Rt. Revd. Trevor Willmott, bishop of Basingstoke, visited Longparish again on Friday, November 3rd, for a special service of Confirmation. Five young people were confirmed that evening: Lydia Fitter, Elena Green, Emma Lewis, Caitlin Taylor and Lucy Thomas. Because it was the season to celebrate the festival of All Saints, it was a service of light, light coming out of and overcoming darkness. About 120 people came out of church and walked over to the Community Hall for refreshments, carrying glo-sticks, and so we experienced an explosion of light in the darkness in more ways than one!

Nona Harrison

SCRAMBLERS

A service for the under-fives in St. Nicholas Church

on the second Monday of every month from 2.25 – 3.15pm The theme is Celebration. All are welcome.

December 11th Jesus’s birthday

January 8th Jesus: God’s special person

Nona Harrison 710215

Carols in the Pubs

This year, as usual, members of our church and choir will be visiting the pubs in the area to sing Christmas carols. These are always very popular evenings and all are invited. Free mince pies and mulled wine to help the singing along! The date fixed is:

Sunday December 10th at 7.30pm at The Cricketers.

Dates at The Plough and The Hurstbourne are still to be arranged

Nona Harrison 720215

Corrections to the Directory

Many thanks to the keen-eyed people who noticed some errors. Two have been unnoticed in previous Directories! Do let me know of any others.

Mary Jo Darrah 720320