1921 Bill, also working in Keighley, is an apprentice machine tool fitter at Eastwood tool works. (Email Kate Mawer 16.2.2025)

1925. Bill became a member of. the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. When he married Ida in 1931 his occupation was given as Engineering Draughtsman. (Email Kate Mawer 16 Feb 2025)

On file is Bill’s will dated 19th February 1952.
On file is Bill’s will dated 29th October 1963
On file is Bill’s first codicil is his wil ldated 20th April 1977
On file is Bill’s Estate Account dated 3rd January 1977

1979 Bill’s probate value on the 3rd Jnauary 1979 was net £37,448 with all the benefits going to Ida. The executors were Neville Osmond and Michael Bedford. Original on file.

1934 Bill and Ida were living in Stockport, where they had Susan, Sue. Katha nd Arthur had Jeremy James, known as Jerry. The families would meet up regularly in Silsden with Kath enjoying the company of her Bedford nephew and two nieces. (Email Kate Mawer 16 Feb 2025)

This is the order of service prepared by Kate Duckering.
Funeral & Thanksgiving Service, for Ida Maria Bedford 22 January 1910 – 5 March 2010, St Andrew’s Church, Ipplepen, Wednesday 24 March 2010, 11.30 a.m.
Service conducted by The Reverend Ian Eglin, Rector

Entry Music, The Sentences, see Order of Funeral Service

Welcome & Introduction

Hymn
The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want;
He makes me down to lie
In pastures green; he leadeth me
The quiet waters by.

My Soul he doth restore again,
And me to walk doth make
Within the paths of righteousness,
E’en for His own name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through death’s dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill;
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
And staff me comfort still.

My table thou has furnishèd
In presence of my foes;
My head Thou dost with oil anoint,
And my cup overflows.

Goodness and mercy all my life
Shall surely follow me;
And in God’s house for evermore
My dwelling-place shall be.
Psalm 23

Reading read by Tom Duckering, The Gospel of John, chapter 14, verses 1–7

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered. ‘I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.’

Hymn
Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things have done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

Oh may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;
And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son and Him who reigns with them in highest heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now and shall be evermore.
Henry Francis Lyte 1874

The Prayers see Order of Funeral Service

A Tribute by Kate Duckering:

In case you don’t know me, I’m Kate, Ida’s eldest grandchild. And I stand before you today to give thanks for her life and to pay tribute to her.

We celebrated with her only two months ago her ‘big birthday’ and we all recognise what a remarkable achievement it is to live to the age of 100 by anyone’s standards. I said to her at the time that she would become famous in our family for having reached this age, and I hope that she enjoyed that thought! So, we are thankful for her long and well lived life.

I want now to try to give you some of my memories and thoughts. You will have different memories and insights, and I and the rest of the family would love to hear about them.

It seemed to me that she made her life’s work to be an excellent wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and homemaker – always putting family first. She met and married Bill Bedford in Keighley, West Yorkshire in 1931 and they moved frequently due to his job, eventually retiring to Ipplepen in 1964. She was mother of Mike and Sue and proudly watched their achievements – Mike becoming a medical research scientist based in the States and Sue becoming a mother and secondary school teacher.

To me, she was of course, my ‘Granny’ and as she was the only grandmother I knew, (sadly my other grandmother had died long before I was born) she was the best. We loved coming to visit our grandparents in Ipplepen - we were well looked after and I may say even ‘cosseted’, with our favourite dishes being prepared and visits to the beach (I think you’ll agree Tim?) She used to knit for us and my sister Sally’s favourite cardigans were always striped. It was the way she showed her love to us. She was also a brilliant great grandmother to Tom, Anna and Edie – always wanting to share in their lives.

Another abiding memory was that Granny seemed always to have lots of friends. Even though she outlived so many of them, she seemed to be able to make more! Her friends meant so much to her and when I rang her up she would always tell me about them as much as about herself. I believe that she had a special gift for making friends and as she had moved a lot she especially valued her friends both old and new. She used to say you can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family! One of her oldest friends was a school friend called Edie who lived in Lancashire, who I don’t ever remember meeting, so she was really quite amused when Tim and Susannah called their little girl ‘Edie’.

Most of these friends are no longer with us, but there is a good selection of friends and neighbours here today and I would like to acknowledge you all, and what you meant to my grandmother. And some of you (and you know who I mean), in recent years have demonstrated friendship in many practical ways which enabled Granny to live at Sunny Bank until a month before her 99th birthday. Then, when she moved to Dawn Rest Home, the carers and residents there became friends too.

So, those of you who knew her well would have always known that, though there were many happy times to remember and celebrate, a recurring theme through Granny’s life were the family and friends who died, as it seemed to her, ‘before their time.’ The newspaper article written by the journalist from the Totnes Times on the occasion of her 100th birthday picked that up too. It seemed to me that she thought that death was somehow a failure and a terrible mistake and something that robbed us here below of the people we loved.

However, in the last few weeks of her life I believe that she revised that thought, and she was able to prepare herself for her own death. She said to me and others that she wanted to go to church, and as she had been a non-church goer for the most part of her life I understood this to mean that she wanted to be in a place where she could be accepted by God. Some of us were able to share the way that Christians believe this happens, even in the last few precious days and hours of life, and it can happen privately in your heart between you and God.

And for us that are left behind, Anna now has a reading that will give us a thought of how it could be….

Reading read by Anna Clarke
What is dying? I am standing on the seashore. A ship sails and spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the ocean. She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her ‘til at last she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says ‘She is gone’. ‘Gone where?’ ‘Gone from my sight that is all; she is just as large in the mast, hull and spars as she was when I saw her, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination. The diminished sight and total loss of sight is in me, not in her, and just at the moment when someone at my side says ‘She is gone,’ there are others who are watching her coming and other voices take a glad shout ‘There she comes!’ And that is what dying is. (Bishop Brent 1862 –1926)

Hymn
Praise my soul, the King of heaven;
To His feet thy tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who like me His praise should sing?
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King.

Praise Him for His grace and favour
To our fathers in distress;
Praise Him still the same for ever,
Slow to chide and swift to bless:
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Glorious in His faithfulness.

Father-like, He tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame He knows;
In His hand he gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Widely as His mercy flows.

Angels, help us to adore Him;
Ye behold Him face to face;
Sun and moon, bow down before Him;
Dwellers all in time and space.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise with us the God of grace.

Martin Rinkart c. 1636 Translated by Catherine Winkworth 1856

Commendation & Commital see Order of Funeral Service

There will be a retiring collection for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) or donations may be sent to:
KJ Lack, 153 St Marychurch Road, Plainmoor, Torquay TQ1 3HW

The family invite you to refreshments in the Church Hall after the service.
•
Thanks to:
The Revd. Ian Eglin,
Madeleine Fedrick, organist,
St Andrew’s Church, Ipplepen,
KJ Lack Family Funeral Service,
And, especially, to all those who cared for Ida.

Ida’s will dated the 20th February 2009 is on file.