Warm tributes paid to Dispatch district woman who has died aged 104

A Methodist local preacher for 60 years, Ethel was a much-loved member of Ravensworth Road Methodist Church in Bulwell.

She lived in Hazelhurst Gardens, just opposite the church, until she moved to Springfield Care Home in Bulwell in 2017.

She was ordained at the age of 31 and continued preaching until into her nineties.

Born in the Derbyshire village of Westhouses, Ethel left school at the age of 14 and went into domestic service.

But after the deaths of her grandparents when she was 16, she became a full-time housekeeper for her father, William, who worked on the railways.

Around that time, Ethel went into the same type of employment and for a while she worked in a signal box at Westhouses railway station.

When Ethel later moved to Nottingham, she worked for Boots and then another city-based company.

On her retirement at the age of 60, she and her sister, Mary, served refreshments for the Women's Royal Voluntary Service at Nottingham City Hospital.

A service of thanksgiving for Ethel's life was held at the Ravensworth Road Church.

Rev John Wiseman, minister at the church, said Ethel ‘always had a strong Christian faith and read the Bible every day’.

He added: "It goes without saying that she will be very much missed.”