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MABEL HUNTRISS 1919 - 2020

Part of a display at Mabel's 90th birthday celebrations

In her early years Mabel was struck by lightning, which came through the glass panel above the front door of the family home. This obviously didn’t affect her mental capacity as she later won a scholarship to the Tomlinson Grammar school in Wigton.

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School trip in 1934

To help the war effort Mabel worked at 14MU, a military dispatch site, some miles north of Carlisle near Harker, where munitions were despatched to many theatres of war. This involved Mabel finding lodgings in Carlisle taking the daily hazardous journey by train to get to work. She became well liked here, her nickname being `Spitfire＇. It was in this accommodation that she met Richard Huntriss who later became her husband. He was working for GEC Telecommunications as an installation engineer.

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Richard had worked in Coventry before the war and it was here that they set up the first family home at Poplar Road in Earlsdon, Coventry, which saw the arrival of their two sons. These were difficult times of austerity with many things being on ration. The boys went to local schools with the annual holidays being taken at the boys’ grandparents home in Crosby.