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Permalink Reply by Maria Elizabeth Prior on December 30, 2016 at 21:43

Its been a very sad time of year.  I lost my beloved best friend, who lived on the Estate all her life, just 2 days before Christmas.  Life can be so awful at times. X

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Permalink Reply by nathan on January 27, 2017 at 10:22

Mrs Marion Elizabeth Fletcher

By Emily Pearce

Friday, January 13, 2017

 

Mrs Marion Elizabeth Fletcher

SHE was born in Yorkshire and died in London, but Marion Elizabeth Fletcher loved the Island and returned throughout her life. 
Born on June 13, 1924, and raised by her grandfather, Herbert Howden — a great friend of greetings card magnate J. Arthur Dixon — they moved to the Island when Mrs Fletcher was four.
She spent her childhood exploring Rylstone Gardens and Shanklin Chine, and watching end-of-the-pier shows starring entertainers such as Arthur Askey, before moving to Somerset with members of Freshwater’s Chiverton family shortly before the Second World War.
Mrs Fletcher joined Clark’s shoe factory, where she contributed to the war effort by making boots for soldiers, and became a fire warden. 
She dismantled Spitfires at Yeovilton air base and worked as an assistant to a beach photographer in Weymouth — winning a ‘best in the west’ beauty competition — before returning to her beloved IW.
She worked at the Shanklin Club and started training as a nurse at Ryde Hospital, before she married Robin Fletcher. They were wed in Havenstreet on Valentine’s Day, 1950.
She lived in London while he trained as a forester in Wales, working at the Three Club, Grosvenor Square, then moved to the New Forest following the birth of their first child. Returning to the Island in the 1960s and living at Bouldnor Fort, the couple were friends with David and Judy Gascoyne, and Mrs Fletcher became a travelling Tupperware saleswoman.
Following a month-long trip to Canada and the USA, returning in time for the Queen’s 1977 Jubilee, and a spell at Farringford and Golden Hill Fort, Freshwater, when Mrs Fletcher joined cultural and historical groups, she moved to London to be near her eldest daughter.
She worked at Bart’s Hospital and as a companion but always returned to the Island — celebrating her 70th birthday in Cowes, 80th in Godshill and 90th at Ventnor Winter Gardens.
Her husband, a well-known photographer, who worked at the County Press for a time, died 20 years ago.
Following a short illness, Marion died at University College Hospital, London, in the early hours of Christmas Day.
She leaves her children, Robynne Alison, Graham and Sherry.
The funeral, which will be held in London next Friday, January 20, has yet to be arranged, and a celebration of Mrs Fletcher’s life will be held on the Island in the summer.

 

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