THE community is paying its fond final goodbyes to stalwart Nancy Rhodes, who has died aged 89.
Nancy, widow of the late Rev Duncan Rhodes, passed away peacefully at The Royal Oldham Hospital on Friday, July 9.
Her funeral will be held on Tuesday, August 10 with a service at St Chad’s Church, Uppermill at 12noon, prior to a private family committal at Oldham Crematorium.
Family flowers only please, donations in lieu if desired to Diggle Band Contest Committee or Uppermill Bowling Club c/o Pogson & Armitage Ltd., 53 Huddersfield Road, Diggle, Saddleworth OL3 5NT, Tel: 01457 872149.
Nancy was born in 1932, living with her family in Mossley before moving to Chew Valley Road in Greenfield.
Nancy attended Greenfield Methodists Chapel very regularly, their whole lives revolved around the Chapel and she subsequently became a Sunday School teacher and later a Sunday School Superintendent there.
From a young age, she enjoyed dancing and playing the piano. She had dancing lessons at Greenfield Mill social club and it was there she was cast in some of her earliest roles, playing principal boy in both Cinderella and Dick Whittington, and being involved in many other shows.
At 18, she became a member of Greenfield Methodist Players and also appeared in many plays there.
Nancy would have loved to have trained to be a teacher but her father felt that women should work, so at age 19 she started working in the office at Victoria Station in Manchester. She thoroughly enjoyed working there and made many lifelong friends.
In 1959, Nancy joined Saddleworth Musical Society and appeared as one of the bridesmaids in a production of Gilbert & Sullivans’ Trial by Jury.
The following year she was cast as Mad Margaret in Ruddigore opposite Duncan Rhodes who was playing Sir Despard. During early rehearsals, Mum was also in a play called The Matchmaker at Greenfield Methodists and Duncan went to watch it and was very impressed by her performance.
Apparently, Duncan would have happily married Nancy there and then but she felt they should wait until the following year – they were married in early April 1961.
Nancy was a long-standing member of Saddleworth Musical Society (SMS) and took many parts in shows and sang in many concerts. In later years she was a patron.
In family life, Nancy and Duncan raised three children: Rachel was born in 1962, Simeon in 1964 and Abigail in 1966.
In 1966 the family moved to Worsley to help Duncan with his commute to work. They joined the Worsley Amateur Dramatics and Light Operatic group and Nancy performed with Worsley Courthouse Players.
In 1972 they moved back to Saddleworth, living in Uppermill until 1985 and then in Diggle for the next 33 years.
Between 1975-1979 and 1982-1987 Duncan spent periods of time in Beirut working for a Lebanese textile company. The family moved out to Beirut in 1977 and had planned to stay for five years but because of the unrest Nancy and the children returned after only a few months.
As well as the SMS, Mum recited dialect poetry and gave talks about it. They also did children’s services and a dancing class at the Parish Centre.
In 1992 Nancy’s sister Sheila wrote a Flight of Fancy which was performed at Kilngreen and that is when the group was first called St Chads’ All Stars. Nancy appeared in many shows and also accompanied shows and rehearsals on the piano.
Another great love of Nancy’s was bowling. She started in 1981 and joined Uppermill Bowling Club. She was a member until last year – nearly 40 years.
She was their star player for many years and won all the cups the ladies play for, including the prestigious President’s Cup.
She captained the Uppermill lady veterans for many years and also Tameside lady veterans.
With her love of the stage and music it wasn’t long before and Nancy and Sheila managed to knock the bowling ladies into shape… they performed several pantomimes and some song and dance shows. If they won a league, they would perform at the league presentation!
In about 2012/13, Nancy followed in her father’s footsteps and went to play bowls at Dobcross. She played for the B team and also captained them and then played indoor bowls at Dobcross until 2019.
Nancy was a wonderful cook and her meat and potato pie and fruit pies that she made on Whit Friday to cater for all the visitors to the house were legendary.
She had a phenomenal memory, a good sense of humour and was a great raconteur. She was a gracious, strong, lovely lady. She had a lovely smile, loved to entertain and touched the hearts of many people.
Nancy leaves one sister Sheila, two daughters Rachel and Abigail, and son Simeon. Also, mother-in-law to Suzette and grandma to Thomas.
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