Sybil Garratt

“You will always be in our hearts and wherever we go, and whatever we do, we will take you with us”

Peacefully at Leighton hospital on 5th December 2020, Sybil aged 95 years.

Welcome to this service to celebrate the life of Sybil. Thanks for
coming – much appreciated by the family. Lovely picture – taken by
Georgie (a great grand-daughter) very recently and selected for this
service sheet by Lucy, her sister, and herself.
Sybil was not one to pose for photographs, but this captures
something of her brightness and sense of fun and humour in a
relaxed home setting.
We all need to acknowledge Sybil’s passing. It will be hard to accept,
and you will probably be conflicted by many emotions. But she has
gone, and this service helps to make that point explicit. However, she
lives on in all sorts of ways, and your memories will help this to
happen. If you let her, she will RAISE YOU UP, as Russell Watson sang
as we came in.
A long life, I think you will agree, and lived according to rules and
standards. A life lived, remarkably, in ONE/THE SAME house – 129
Walthall Street! That takes some effort to believe! I have lived
around here just half of her 95 years, lived in half a dozen different
houses, and seen staggering changes in Crewe and district. But 95
years!! Wow! So celebrate Sybil’s life as a testimony to endurance
and resilience – a symbol of continuity with the past, and of some
enduring values.
Equally, of course, we have lost a link to a past which is quickly
disappearing from living history. Another one has slipped away!
So what about those enduring values she represented? She came of
that earlier generation when things were hard to come by, money
was tight, rules were rules, standards were standards. People held
together in communities. And work was graft.
Childhood had been particularly tough for Sybil, as she had sadly lost
her mother and sister at an early age, and was brought up by her

father, Harold, so she probably knew a thing or two about the need
to be tough and resilient.
Today we are challenged by new circumstances – Covid, Brexit,
climate change, pollution, a changing and growing population, a
depleted high street – to name but a few. But going back to those
enduring values of Sybil’s: Don’t we need to be careful and
thoughtful with our money and how we spend it? Don’t we need
more of “waste not, want not”? Don’t we need to build communities
so they hold together? A good work ethic?
Remember also that Sybil wanted to make the best of things. That
was obvious in the way she took care of her appearance – nice
clothes, nice shoes, make-up. Similarly, she saw the point of moving
with the times, accepting that change was an inevitable part of life,
and you needed to go with the flow. And as we have already said –
there has been plenty of change over these past 95 years!
I don’t want to be political, but perhaps Sybil would want us to speak
about this dimension to her life. She knew her mind on these
matters. Where was her allegiance? She was there for the working
man and woman. Remember, for example, that she came out on
strike, with husband Ernest, for 7 weeks in the Postal Workers
dispute back in 1971.
More generally, up until her death she took a keen interest in what
was going on in the world and was happy to discuss with anyone,
and present her case. She was well read and, incidently, great at
doing crosswords. Her politics may not necessarily be your politics,
but her heart was in the right place – she wanted fairness and
justice.
Let’s talk a bit more of life history and family. So born in Walthall
Street 95 years ago, a clever girl at school who made it to the
Grammar School, and then working as a telephonist in the Crewe
Telephone Exchange from age 17 until she retired on medical
grounds in the early 1970’s. She had married Ernest in the late

1940’s, sadly losing him at a relatively early age after nursing him at
home.
And so the family she created continues to grow … through Sheila,
her daughter, through grandchildren Ruth, Adam and Stuart, and
great-grandchildren Georgie, Lucy, Jake, Noah and Henry. Something
of Sybil passes down to new and future generations. Something in
the genes, something perhaps of her values they have picked up
from her. She leaves something of herself in the world!
A word about her working life as a telephonist. I wonder how many
times she had made the old salutation to a customer: “Number
please!”, or “Directory Enquiries, for which town?”, or speaking to a
person in a callbox “Caller, please insert a shilling in the slot” or to
someone who had dialled 999 “Emergency, for which service?”
I can’t help thinking that the discipline associated with working in a
telephone exchange suited her. There were standards. There were
routines. There were scheduled breaks from the switchboard which
were sternly policed by the Supervisor. But while there were plenty
of rules, there were also some thoughtful judgements to be made –
for Sybil to use her intelligence and also to show some fellow feeling
with customers at the other end of the line.
I understand that she had some responsibility for training new
operators. I wonder if people used to whisper in their ears: “She
won’t stand any nonsense, you know, so watch out!” But they
probably added: “But there’s always a twinkle in her eye!”
Many friendships were built through work, but sadly many of her
close associates have moved on. Sybil is one of the few remaining of
that close little band. But others she worked with still remember her
with affection. Her dry humour and wit. Apparently she could really
be quite amusing! Her dependability and consistency.
There was creativity in Sybil’s life. We are all creative in different
ways. She loved listening to music: Tamla Motown, Roy Orbison, and
Johnny Cash, for example. This afternoon we have heard some of her favourite tracks.

Music speaks of harmonies and rhythms which
correspond with phases in our lives. And a good song never dies. It
lives in our hearts and souls. We become part of the song and live on
with it.
Sybil lived a very long life, despite earlier health problems. She lived
independently in Walthall Street right until her last hours when she
was admitted to hospital. Her mind was clear as a bell – it was her
body that started to let her down and gave her some frustration.
So thanks to Sheila and Ruth and Adam who had promised never to
put her in a care home – and were with her at the very end. Well
done to them for what they did. They have Sybil’s eternal gratitude.
So there is much for you to be thankful for in Sybil’s life generally and
especially in these recent years. You who have been close to her can
have contentment and satisfaction in your hearts because you have
served her well. You can share in some of the contentment that she
had in life.
That was one of the hallmarks of her life. Not for her the bright lights
or the attractions of greener pastures on the other side of the valley.
129 Walthall Street for 95 years! Contentment, by the way, is the
perfect antidote to depression.
Sybil leaves all of you something to treasure. If you examine her life
you will find aspects from which you can learn and make yourselves
better people. Hold on to good fragrant memories – let her live on in
your hearts and minds. Let those memories bring you joy and
comfort. Let them guide you in how you live your life. She has
WALKED THE LINE – that is to say, lived a life according to her
principles. Shed a tear, of course. We all need to grieve.
Grief is the price we pay for love, and who would not want to share
in the love that Sybil brought into the world?
In due course her ashes will be scattered in the Garden of
Remembrance, where Ernest’s are. So, may Sybil rest in peace, as we
now take our leave of her.

Her funeral took place on Friday 18th December at Crewe Crematorium.