1941
Mill Street
Born above the bakery, the middle of three children. She could read before she started school, and by seven she was checking everybody else’s spelling, including the teacher’s.
1941 to 2026
Her life
Hazel was born above the bakery on Mill Street and spent almost all of her life within a short walk of it. These are the parts her family wanted kept.
1972
Orchard Row
She married Peter Marrin, a joiner who made every shelf in the house by hand. They had two children, Anne and Tom, and later five grandchildren who were each shown the greenhouse before they were allowed in the kitchen.
1979
The library
She joined the Ashby Fold library as a junior assistant, took over the children’s room and then ran the whole library from 1979. She kept a box of books that children had loved and never threw one out.
She retired in 2004. The Saturday story hour she started in 1983 still runs, and the children who attend still ask after her.
1990
Thursdays and the garden
Thursday cards at Lindens Hall ran for twenty-six years. Hazel won more often than anybody admits. The garden was her other project: tomatoes in the greenhouse and rows of sweet peas she gave away by the bucketful.
2026
The last summer
She spent her last summer in the garden with the radio on, and told everyone the sweet peas were doing better than ever. She died at home on 2 August, with Anne and Tom beside her.
Come on 23 October, or send a memory.
The service is at The Larches at 11:00, with tea and cake at Lindens Hall afterwards.