Legacy of the late Lucy Morgan
We have recently received the most wonderful news that St. Mary's Church is one of the major beneficiaries of the will of the late Lucy Morgan.
Lucy was born in the High Street, Swaffham Prior in 1915, the second of seven children born to James and Kate Sheldrick. She was baptised in St. Mary's Church. She went to the village school until the age of 11 and then went on to Burwell School. She left school at 14 and started working for Mr Yarrow further along the High Street in Swaffham Prior, and then she subsequently went to work in Wales as a domestic servant, probably through the connections of her mother who came from Wales.
By 1938 Lucy was working in London for the Astor family. She was not called up
during the war, but stayed working for the Astors. After the war she continued
to work for the family in Plymouth. The Astors were very actively involved in
the rebuilding of the city after the war. I have visited the Astor home on
Plymouth Hoe on a number of occasions. The house was left to the city by the
family, and is now used for entertaining. I have dined there, and it is strange
to think that Lucy would have one time worked there.
We are not sure when or where she met Herbert Morgan, and when or where they were married. Apparently he had built up a toy factory in London, which was bombed out during the war. He managed, however, to recover, and continued to be successful in business. It is reckoned that he was about 20 years older than Lucy. Some say that Lucy initially became his housekeeper, and then subsequently married him. They didn't have any children.
Lucy was always very well dressed. She had fur coats and matching Pekinese dogs. She was a very tall, slender upright person, very well spoken, quiet and didn't like any fuss made about anything. I attach two photographs of her, one from her early years and one taken at her 90th birthday.
Once Lucy left the family home in Swaffham Prior she very rarely visited the village. In later life (after Herbert's death) Lucy, and her sisters Audrey (the youngest sister) and Clara (the oldest) spent several holidays together. The others in the family are Peter who still living in Burwell with his wife Joan, Philip (Bubble's husband who died a few years ago and is buried in the village cemetery with his son John and daughter Sylvia), Bob (he and his wife Beryl are also buried in the cemetery) and Lesley (whose ashes are buried in the garden of remembrance near Lucy's ashes).
Lucy left a third of her estate, which her solicitors have valued at £450,000, to the Church. So we expect to receive a legacy in the region of £150,000. We are deeply grateful to Lucy for remembering the Church in which she was baptised in her will.
The PCC will be considering over the next few months how best to make use of this unexpected windfall, and will naturally be considering whether it can be used to assist the completion of the Maryloo project. I am sure that they will also want to create some sort of lasting memento in the Church to Lucy's kind generosity. I don't doubt that their number one priority will be to ensure that this very generous legacy will be husbanded in such a way as to guarantee the long-term financial security of the Church.