Sad news of the passing of local parishioner Brenda Nicholson

We were very saddened to hear of the passing of Brenda Nicholson who formerly resided at Rosemary Cottage B&B with her daughter Tiffany Nicholson before moving into South Molton last year.

Brenda enjoyed becoming involved in the village and would help her daughter run the Book Stall at the Village Fair. She attended the Coffee Mornings, events such as the Hobby Horse Race Night and Beetle Drives, helped oversee the old time dances and was a member of the W.I in the Thelbridge area. In her short time in the village she became a well-known face at social events and showed a keen interest in rural life asking many questions about the cattle on the moor and farming in the area. 

Brenda was born in Ireland and has two brothers who now live in Australia. She lived in Ireland and England before her parents took the momentous decision to sail a boat to the Galápagos’ Islands to find work. The voyage was long and did not go to plan ending short of their destination. Brenda said that her dislike of certain fish (often the sole food on the boat) came from this voyage. The family returned to Southampton before work was found in America and they settled there for a number of years. It was here that Brenda worked and then met and married Fred, Tiffany’s father. Another move followed this time to Australia where Brenda and Fred settled and raised Tiffany, her brother Corbyn and their pet dogs in a house by the Sydney coast. After Fred died Brenda remained in Australia with many friends and family around her before deciding to move to Devon to be close to Tiffany.

Brenda specified that she did not want a funeral service nor any fuss and Tiffany has followed out her wishes. We send all our best to Tiff at this sad time.