Mary joined the club in 1977. When I met her in 1989 she told me that at the time she joined her main interest was in the social events, predominantly the weekly square dances which were then held at St Josephs School, Bunhill Row. However by the time I met her she had become a frequent rambler and joined in on several walkouts with me and other leaders at the time.

In 1987, when Mary had achieved 10 years continuous membership, she took up life membership for which at that time a minimum of 10 years membership was required. She remained a life member until her death on 25 September 2021.

From 1992 to 1994 Mary served on the club committee, being the holder of the club map library in the first year and club secretary in the second. At that time there was an expectation that members who had served two years on the committee would stand down at the AGM unless no other candidates were available so Mary stood down in 1994. However she continued to ramble with the club for some years afer that.

In 1999 when we were preparing the history of the club Mary played a large part - attending all of the meetings that were necessary and doing much of the research that went into the production of the book. In fact she single handedly researched the history of marriages of club members. She then drafted the chapter on that subject which appears in the published book (now available on the website HERE).. 

Whilst she was an active member of the St Francis Ramblers Club Mary was also involved in a young persons' organisation at St Boniface Social Club in Tooting and she actually served some time as the leader of that organisation. Naturally there was an overlap in people interested in such an organisation and in rambling and Mary mentioning the club led to some members being involved in both. 

Another interest of Mary's was flower arranging and she put this to good use in helping with the arranging of flowers on tha altar in St Anselms Church Tooting Bec.

In 1997 Mary married her late husband, Sean, who predeceased her by a little over one year. Several members of the club attended her wedding at St Anselms Church Tooting Bec and the reception at St Boniface Social club afterwards.

At the time of her wedding she lived in Balham and we had many happy evenings with her and Sean in the Oliver Plunkett club in a nearby parish until its closure in the early years of this century.

May she rest in peace.

Mary's funeral took place on Thursday 21 October 2021. The requiem Mass was attended by several club members and below are copies of the cover of the Mass booklet and two pages of photographs included in the booklet.

 After the cremation ceremony at Croydon Crematorium some floral tributes were on display.