Shirley Rose Townsend

“Dance is the hidden language of the soul”

“I danced in the morning when the world was begun, and I danced in the moon and the starts and the sun”

Shirley passed away peacefully on Sunday 20th February 2022 aged 80 years.

Her funeral took place on Friday 4th March at Crewe Crematorium Chapel at 1pm.

Kind donations in memory of Shirley are going to St Catherine’s Care Home, Nantwich and Ward 6 @ Leighton Hospital.

For further information and to offer your condolences, please telephone our Funeral Home on 01270 584447

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Although Shirley’s loss is so sad, she has left plenty to smile about. Her bright cheery manner has blessed those who knew her with memories of the most wonderful, amazing woman. And she, as a daughter of this town, is a credit to Crewe!

We take comfort from the fact that she is at peace and in her last days and hours she had the comforting presence of her niece Julie.

She loved music, dancing, partying and could, at least in her fabulous early life, be found having a great time with the most contagious smile. She was sparkling from head to toe and inside out, consistently dressed appealingly in style. She just had this incredibly infectious sweet, vivacious and outgoing personality, though deep down she lacked self-confidence. Even in this last year in St Catherine’s Care home she has enlivened and brightened the lives of residents and staff.

She showed much kindness to neighbours and many many others. She was the best testament to what living a life full of love, grace, kindness and fun truly means, a life that demonstrated an appreciation of the world and people, a gratitude to God for what she had received, even if recent years have not always been so easy or fruitful.

Born in Ludford Street in 1942, the daughter of Alice and Harry, the youngest of 4 – Eddie, Ronnie and Dot – and now Shirley is the last to leave us just a few months after her brother Ronnie. Shirley was born to be a star. She at a very early age demonstrated her dancing talent as she attended Miss Bell’s Dancing School in Hightown, Crewe. Then -in no time at all – she was living the dream. At age 17 she had been talent spotted to join the legendary Tiller Girls who were the premier dance troupe on ITV, being particularly associated with the iconic “Sunday Night at the Palladium”. Then she was dancing with the “Black and White Minstrels” which in the mid-1960’s were achieving TV audiences of well over 20 million. How amazing is it to think Shirley was part of all that. I think we have at least one person from that show attending with us today – known affectionately as Pansy.

After the Black and White Minstrels she was dancing around the world – Japan, South America, Portugal, Monte Carlo – with the Bentyber Girls. That’s all pretty mind-blowing.

And we mustn’t forget Shirley’s love of Ballet, represented today by the entry music for the funeral ceremony from Swan Lake.

Think of all the famous celebrity persons she would have encountered! Think of the way she was part of a team who captivated their audience with their perfect synchronised rhythm and style! Talk about gracefulness, and skill! But let’s not forget all the rehearsal practice, and resilience and determination.

Another career development – nothing to do with dance, but everything to do with Shirley’s sparkle and love of life –  was to be a tour guide for Brits in Italy working for Wallace Arnold.

Although Shirley never made it to the altar herself, she loved the family she found herself part of. Although she has lost her siblings over the years, she has in recent years appreciated the warmth of nieces and nephews Ian and Gary, Rob and Diane, David and Julie, great nieces and nephews Laura and Emily, Adam, Natalie and Bradley, Sam and Ben, and WOW! We even have a great-great nieces Rae and Aurora and nephew Oakley.

You can see Shirley’s regard and love for family in the way she chose in the late 1980’s to return to live in Crewe partly because she wanted to help care for her sister – Dot. Julie, Shirley’s niece, witnessed that compassionate caring side of Shirley and she has taken a lead in showing that same care and love to her aunt in her sad decline.

So Shirley danced her way to and through the High Life. In the UK, and across the world.  That is saying more than just a little something about the girl from Crewe. It is to say she wowed the world. It is to say that she brought happiness to literally many many millions of people.

To possess creativity and artistry as Shirley did, is to have insight to a world of aesthetic values. Artistry speaks of transcendent qualities – qualities and values which are bigger than ourselves. Beauty is more than simply what is in the eye of the beholder.

Shirley’s legacy will live on through the countless lives she has touched during her extraordinary life. A key measure of a life is how much that life has enriched the lives of those around.  She will be greatly missed by those she was loved. I am sure she will have the angels in perfect corps de ballet  lines by now.

She has left the world a better place than she found it.

Today is a sad day – yes – but her love and grace live on. Our loss is Heaven’s gain.

We can’t understand things all the time.  Sometimes we just have to have faith. Have faith that she is safe in God’s care, remembering her memory, her soul, is going to shine through all of us, with every passing smile, tear, triumph, struggle and heartache.

 

Love has an eternal dimension to it. A million love songs will tell you that. God is love and in His eternal love Shirley is safe. She will be part of the family previously mentioned and as a symbol of that her ashes in due course will be interred in the family grave in the Cemetery. In God’s love you who love her and other family members will see her and them again.

May she rest in peace.