Tributes have been paid to a Loddon stalwart who died last month.

Christina Crease was born in Norwich in 1948 and came to Loddon in 1953 as a child,when her father, John Kendle, got a job at the Hobart High School (Loddon secondary Modern in those days).

She went to Loddon primary school and the Sir John Leman school, and later taught at Oriel Grammar School, Gorleston , where she met her husband, David.

They lived at Langley for a time and had three daughters, Jo, Jenny and Katy. Chris was instrumental in setting up the Loddon Nursery School which still flourishes today.

It was during this time in 1986 that she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and over the next two years had various treatments.

She organised several carnival parades in the town, over a course of years, raising money for the Big C Appeal.

Chris wrote several booklets, on the history of the village, which she researched with much diligence and collected many photographs, which are available to view in Loddon Library today.

Working at Loddon surgery for several years, she helped to find things for the trainees to do as part of their courses, including an exercise where they had to travel around the town in wheelchairs and try to gain access to various places. This was to make them aware of some of the problems faced by people with disabilities.

Fiercely competitive and sporty, Chris always liked winning, and she turned the adversity of her illness into a positivity not to give up without a fight.

Chris continued to face her illness with tremendous courage, when she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma four years ago but, after a short spell in hospital Chris died at her home on June 5.

Holy Trinity church was packed to capacity on July 4 for the Service of Thanksgiving for Chris’s Life. Her three daughters paid tribute to their Mum, and other tributes were read. The Golden Star Morris Dancers, of which Chris’s husband David is a member, were in attendance and danced from the church through the town to the ‘wake’at White Horse, Chedgrave. Also, at Chris’s request, hundreds of fresh Rose petals were thrown from the church tower over the congregation as they came out of church to symbolise happy memories and good thoughts.

This was indeed a fitting tribute to an amazing lady, who did so much for the community, and whose memory will live on in all that she did.