- Nonagenarians Mary Hann and Ruth Richards
Mary Hahn (Emma Drabble)
Marshfield Church played an important part in the life of the community. “It was church three times a day on Sundays,” remembers Mary who taught at Sunday school and went on to become church organist. Ruth, meanwhile, served some 75 years in the choir while brother Doug has been singing with them since he was seven.
“The church is very dear to us,” explains Mary. “My husband and my brother are buried here; my mum and dad are buried here.” Their parents were William and Olive Richards. William was the gardener and Olive the cook for the Gunn family at Crag Hall House. “We were a poor family, five children.” There were summer outings to the sea wall, paddling at Peterstone beach and the occasional crisis such as the time when Ruth cut her toe on a piece of glass. “I can see Mother now, carrying Ruth in her arms to the road, when a baker’s van came along and took her up to the doctor’s.”
Their school days at Marshfield were comparatively uneventful until the dental service’s dreaded green van arrived. “They visited school every couple of months for extractions or fillings. You’d be notified you were on the list and you played hell because you dreaded that green van!”
