Ivy Preedy

“Deep in our hearts you will always stay. Loved and remembered in every way”

Ivy passed away peacefully at home on 28th May 2022 aged 100 years.

The beloved wife of the late Alfred “Jim”. Much loved mum of John, Alan, Christine, Yvonne, David & Ian.  Also a cherished Nana & Great Nana.

Ivy’s funeral took place on Tuesday 14th June at Crewe Crematorium Chapel at 11.30am followed by cremation.

Family flowers only. Donations i memory of Ivy are for St Luke’s Hospice.

For further information and to offer your condolences, please telephone our funeral home on 01270 584447

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A beloved mum of John, Alan, Christine, Yvonne, David and Ian, Ivy was fondly
known and loved by all who had the pleasure of knowing her. To many she was
famous for being incredibly talented with a needle and thread, there is a wonderful
image on the order of service which depicts a dressmaker’s dummy and her trusted
companion, a sewing machine and as well as the photograph, the flowers are
absolutely stunning in honour of her love of dressmaking, alterations and creative
skills she had in crafting anything and everything from material.
She was also an iconic sight around town as she biked everywhere and Yvonne has
often been asked, “is that your mum with white hair who regularly cycles up West
Street”?
Well, the answer was yes, she was still riding her bike at the age of ninety and
thought nothing of it. For years and on most days, she used to cycle to put a bet on
for husband Jim when he was alive and then carry on getting her shopping or go
wherever she needed to.
Remembering Ivy
Ivy’s parents, Ralph and Irene Makin welcomed their daughter into the world on 23 rd
July 1921 in Great Sankey, Warrington but in those days in the county of Lancashire.
She grew up in post-war Britain when, saved from German invasion – men returned
from war, children from evacuation, families were reunited – the comfort of the home
became paramount. Its importance was marked out in sewn domestic niceties:
embroidered tray cloths, cheval sets and tea cosies. Some homes had had a sewing
machine in the corner, an ever-ready sewing workbox by their mother’s chair and a
box that brimmed with buttons for children to rifle through by way of entertainment.
This was their material world. Make do and mend. Her dad encouraged her to sew
from a young age, no doubt thinking she would always have work if she could turn
her hand to sewing.
Ivy’s generation lived through the aftermath of world war one then experienced the
hardship and much fear and heartache of World War two but of course, those
experiences moulded their approach on life. They also knew what it was to help one
another, they simply accepted and appreciated what little they had, and, in many
ways, they learnt to value whatever they had. Their family and friends and health.
She met Jim in an ammunition factory in Burton Wood, I gather his father was a
railway shunter and although Jim came from Crewe, he was recruited for a job in the
factory with some mention of him being in the RAF, he was at one time a leading
aircraft man and repaired Douglas Bader’s plane.
Ivy was twenty-two and wearing a flattering tailored suit when she and Jim
exchanged their vows. They stated married life with his parents in Crewe but then
moved to a council house in Eadie Grove which they subsequently bought and then
moved to Wharfdale Avenue in Coppenhall.
They had four of their children within five years and at some time, she managed to
go to work in a sewing factory in Willaston where she made many nice friends.

David was born when she was thirty-nine and he remembers his mum being a dinner
lady and cleaning at the Merlin pub. With a further gap of around seven years, Ivy
became a mum again at the age of forty-six to Ian and she even returned to work as
a dinner lady until she retired.
When the kids were young, Ivy made the majority of their clothes and many people
used to comment on the matching dresses she made for Christine and Yvonne. She
glided through what was to her the simplest of stitches – back stitch, blanket stitch,
lazy daisy, French knots with the magic touches of beads and decorative stitching.
She was a master of her craft.
She made some stunning wedding and bridesmaids dresses for people and lovingly
made Freya’s beautiful christening gown out of Hayley’s wedding dress. One of the
last jobs she did for someone was shortening a pair of trousers at the age of ninety-
nine.
Yvonne remembers how growing up, her mum often made different meals for each
of the children in contrast to many of her peers who had to have what had been
cooked for the whole family. She also used to say, “iron us that dress mum”, and
guaranteed, it would be pressed and on the coat hanger within minutes!
Neither Ivy or Jim drove, and they didn’t have many family holidays, but it seems
they did go to Talacre at some point and David remembers being taken to London.
Ivy and Jim had an old school marriage, he was an inspector on the railway and Ivy
was chief cook and bottle washer and good at it, she was the home maker, the
matriarch of the family although I gather Jim did occasionally cook later in life.
A beautiful rose once grew where all could see, sheltered behind a garden wall. One
day a beam of light shone through a crevice that had opened wide. The rose bent
gently towards its warmth and passed through to the other side.

May she rest in peace.