Elizabeth Grindley

“Deep in our heart’s you will always stay. Loved and remembered every day.”

Elizabeth passed away peacefully in Leighton Hospital on 3rd October aged 85 years. Beloved wife of Stan, cherished mum of Heather and Ian and mother in law of Neil and Trish.  Loved Nana of Bethany, Lewis, Madison and Sam and dearest sister of Michael, Dawn and Margaret.  She will be very sadly missed by all her family and friends.

Elizabeth’s funeral will take place on Friday 13th October at St Stephen’s Church Crewe at 11am followed by Cremation at Crewe Crematorium.

We are here to celebrate and give thanks for the life of Elizabeth
Grindley.
Elizabeth was born on the 26 th December 1937, the eldest child of
May and Lesley Barker. She had a brother, Michael and two sisters,
Dawn and Margaret. The family lived in Manor Way. Her father
worked for the Council.
From an early age Elizabeth was taken to Hope Street Methodist
Church. There she came to know Jesus Christ for herself. When Hope
Street closed she came here to St Stephen’s where she was faithful in
worship and was fully involved in the life of the church The Christian
faith was part of who Elizabeth was, for she followed Jesus Christ
throughout her life.
Elizabeth attended Bedford Street and Mill Street schools, having
passed the 11+ she went to the grammar school.
On leaving school she went to work at the General Offices on Chester
Bridge. Elizabeth then went to work at Anchor Motors and later Day
and Son’s, where she continued until she retired. In these last two
places of work she was employed as an accountant.
In 1959 Elizabeth married Brian Brooks and they went to live in
Chambers Street, later moving to Ernest Street. They had two children
Heather and Ian.
Elizabeth was a good mum. She was gifted with her hands, making
clothes for herself and the children, she knitted and crocheted. She
taught Heather to knit and crochet. She was a good cook and baked
cakes – macaroons and mince pies were Christmas favourites. She
taught Heather to cook.
There were always family holidays. As Brian didn’t drive and he
worked at Rail House they travelled by train to Towyn and Blackpool,
and all the Butlins camps – Clacton, Minehead, Ayr, Skegness etc.
They also had October half term breaks to Blackpool Nan and grandad
Barker and uncle Michael came, sometimes cousins too.

Sadly, Brian died in October 1976 Heather was 10 and Ian was 8. Life
was hard.
After Brian died Elizabeth started to learn to drive.
In June 1979 Elizabeth married Stan their honeymoon was spent in
Jersey.
Elizabeth gained two step children Barry who married Diane and Carol
whose partner is Keith.
Back to the driving Elizabeth drove a pale blue SIMCA and Stan
remembers the occasion when the gear lever came away in her hand!
Stan said she panicked.
Liz and Stan loved Ball Room and Sequence dancing. They went to
many venues the Rendevous, the Town Hall, Jollies in Hanley,
Silverdale etc. They entered competitions at Butlins and in 1985 they
won and still have the cup to prove it.
In 1985 Stan had an accident at work. He was in hospital for a few
weeks and then went to Oakmere for rehabilitation. Liz visited him
every night.
Life was hard again, but Heather says ‘it was always a happy home,
money was tight and mum was a good manager. She was a clever
woman.’
After Stan came home they moved into the bungalow in Kipling Way.
Heather and Ian stayed in Ernest Street.
Ian married Trish and Heather married Neil. The grandchildren Sam
and Bethany, Lewis and Madison came along.
Liz and Stan continued dancing, although Stan could no longer dance
it was a social occasion they met up with their friends.
They continued to have holidays including Canada, Tenerife and
Germany. In Britain they visited Carol in Weymouth and went to
Llandudno for Christmas.
Stan and Liz enjoyed the music of James Last, the big band leader.
They travelled to many places in Britain to hear him live.

Liz enjoyed reading, especially historical romances by authors like
Catherine Cookson and Anne Jacobs. She bought Readers Digest and
Woman’s weekly. She also like doing crosswords.
As a Nanna Liz was involved with the grandchildren. She baby sat
them all. They had the pond filled in in the back garden so the
children could play outside. Stan and Liz took them to Colwyn Bay
where they rode their bikes. They often went to Winterly Pool to feed
the ducks or to Brereton Nature Reserve. When Madison started
dancing Liz was very supportive and went to watch her in shows.
A happy occasion that Liz and Stan were able to enjoy during these
last difficult years was the renewal of wedding vows that Ian and Trish
made at St Andrews church on their 25 th wedding anniversary. Liz was
so happy to be there and there is a lovely photo of them all in the
garden.
As a woman of deep faith Liz was fully involved in the life of the
Church here at St Stephen’s. For many years Liz was a Sunday School
Teacher and cradle Roll secretary. The Sunday School was large and
they had big anniversaries often around a particular theme. Ian
remembers when Joseph was the theme and he played Joseph. His
mum was proud of him. There were carnival processions and Ian
remembers the last one when the float was decorated with the
theme ‘God the builder’.
Monday evenings Liz was one of the leaders in ‘Go for Gold’ a
meeting for younger children she took Bethany and Lewis there.
She was Pastoral Secretary and a Pastoral visitor. She was very good
at visiting members in her group. She always visited my husband
when we moved to Crewe.
Liz did door to door collections for NCH and Christian Aid, she has a
JMA box, all part of charitable giving.
Liz was caring, empathetic, kind, generous a woman who loved and
obeyed the words of Jesus who called his followers to love their
neighbours as they love themselves.

We all have different memories of Liz for our relationships with her
were different. She was wife, mother, Nanna, sister, step mother,
aunt, friend. Heather pictures her sitting next to her on the sofa
teaching her to knit and having endless patience. There are memories
of her being dressed immaculately often in lovely pastel shades, and
always a smile. Memories of love and caring.
Phil is going to play a favourite hymn of Liz’s ‘Be still for the presence
of the Lord, the Holy one is here.’ As he plays it bring to mind your
own memories of Liz and say Thank you.

As I said earlier Liz was a woman of deep faith. She knew Jesus Christ
as her Lord and Saviour. Liz had no fear of death for she knew that
the promises of Jesus were for her. On Tuesday 3 rd October Elizabeth
died. She has met God face to face and is now in the place that Jesus
went ahead to prepare for her. She has been set free from pain and
suffering and is now at peace.
Amen

Donations in memory of Elizabeth will be  gratefully received for Alzheimers.

For further information please call 01270 584447