LILIAN ‘Lil’ Shire died at the age of 84 at the Great Western Hospital on November 21 after a short illness.

Many of Lil’s friends, including those from the local Sunshine Club, joined the family for the funeral at St Mary’s Church in Marlborough on December 3. The floral tribute on the coffin, including red roses from her own garden, was carried into church to one of Lil’s favourite songs, Katie Melua’s Nine Million Bicycles.

Lil was born in Guys Hospital in London on February 11, 1931.

In 1940, at the age of nine, with London under constant bombing, Lil was evacuated and spent the next 18 months with a family in Newton Abbott. On hearing her father was being sent to Burma, with what became known as the forgotten army, Lil returned to the Old Kent Road in London to be with her mum for the rest of the war, spending numerous nights in air raid shelters as the doodle bugs rained down on London.

After the war Lil became a seamstress, a role that would make her well known in Marlborough in later years, as many local people would bring their dresses and trousers to her for alterations.

In 1952 Lil married her late husband George and they moved to Elcot Lane where Lil was still living at the time of her death.

Lil was an active member of the local community in Marlborough where she helped out at the Jubilee Rooms and was treasurer for the Sunshine Club.

One of her favourite pastimes was to go shopping on the bus to Newbury and Devizes with her friends and enjoying a chat and coffee in the local supermarket comparing prices.

Lil enjoyed her garden and spent many hours looking after her small vegetable plot and her flower borders where she grew her favourite flower, the rose.

It was Lil’s love of roses that set the theme for the service and the address by the Reverend Canon Henry Pearson, which included the poem chosen by her daughter and son, “If Roses Grow in Heaven” by Kirsten Preus.

There was also a time for reflection of Lil’s life with the congregation listening to the hymn Make me a channel of your peace, another of Lil’s favourites.

The service ended with a collection of war time songs including Vera Lynn’s We’ll meet again, reflecting on Lil’s wartime childhood.

Lil was a very special person will be sadly missed by her two children, four grandchildren and her many friends.

Donations can be made to the Marlborough & District Link Scheme, a voluntary taxi service that Lil used many times.