Courtesy of Lynn News 11 December 2001.



THE funeral took place at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, followed by burial in the churchyard, of Miss Florence Mary Bone, who died suddenly at her home in Dersingham. Canon George Hall conducted the service and Mr Tony Fitt-Savage was organist. Donations were for the International League for the Protection of Horses.
Miss Bone was born at Sandringham and lived on the Estate all her life. She was the daughter of Mr and Mrs Violet and Frederick Bone, who was the organist and choirmaster at the church.
She was educated at Lynn High School for Girls and during the Second World War worked in the Flax Factory laboratory at Abbey Farm. Flitcham, after which she decided on a teaching career. Specialising in music, history, English and art, she taught for many years at St Michael's, Ingoldisthorpe, and St Edmund's and Glebe House schools in Hunstanton.'
The OMA was represented at the funeral by
Robert Hill Ian Dupont, (Representing Rachel Gunter, Clifford Wallington, Michael Catterick, John Barrett & Martin Graville) & Mike Chilvers (Representing Ruth Chilvers).

MISS ANNA GODFREY.



The funeral took place at Ingoldisthorpe parish church of Miss Anna Godfrey, who died at her Snettisham home, aged 93. The service was conducted by the Rev David Grundy; Mr Eric Bocking was organist. Prayers were led by Canon Jonathan Russell, and the address was given by Mr Simon Pott. The service was followed by cremation at Mintlyn. Donations were for Ingoldisthorpe church funds.
Miss Godfrey was born in Ingoldisthorpe, moving to Brockhill in Kent to take up a position as a lady’s maid. After a relatively short stay she returned to Norfolk to take care of her parents, looking after them until they died.
Left with a fairly large house, Miss Godfrey decided to board boys from nearby St Michael’s School, and many of these pupils passed through her care. Known as Anna’s boys, they meant everything to her, and it was a particular joy for her to meet them again at annual reunions. Some came from different parts of the country to attend her funeral.
Following the closure of the school she looked after her two sisters, until finally she was left on her own. For the last two years she was a resident at The Close, Snettisham.
Old Michaelian’s attending or represented included John Wallington, Clifford Wallington, Richard Munge, John King, Jonathan Russell, Peter Yarker, Simon Pott, Barry Thickitt, Louise Taylor, John Worboys, Martin Graville, Rachel Gunter.

ADDRESS BY SIMON POTT

At the funeral of Anna Godfrey
1st February 2002.

It is a great privilege for me to be asked to say a few words about Anna, and for those of you who do not understand why I have been asked I would like you to think that it is not me standing in this pulpit but my father, Roger Pott, who was rector of Ingoldisthorpe for so many years. 
I am standing in this pulpit partly because David Grundy (the vicar) has asked me whether I would like to do so, partly because I am able to see all of you from here and partly because the only other time I have spoken from this pulpit was for the memorial service for my father and I would like to think that Anna would be pleased that I was doing the same at her funeral.
Anna Godfrey had a good and long life, very largely spent in Ingoldisthorpe and at the end of that long life it is very good to see so many members of her family, friends from the village and elsewhere and also the group that I will speak about in a few minutes who constituted ‘her boys’. I am going to concentrate on the second half of Anna’s life, after she had returned from Kent bringing with her the name Brockhill which was the name of the place in which she had lived in Kent. I gather that Anna returned to Ingoldisthorpe after her father died and to help her mother and I believe that it was in 1957 following the death of Anna’s mother that she had a meeting which was to change the whole of the rest of her life. I was not involved with that conversation but I want to suggest to you what was said. The conversation goes as follows:
In the voice of RPP - “Good morning Miss Godfrey – how are you?”
AG - “I am fine thank you, Rector, but I am a bit concerned about what I am going to do about the house because it is really rather too big for my needs, and I am not sure that I can afford to stay in it”. 
RPP - “I’ve got a good idea. I suggest that I send to you some of the borders from St Michael’s School and they can have bed and breakfast with you at Brockhill”.
AG - “Oh, I am not sure Rector that I really want to do that, I am not sure that I really could…”
RPP - interrupting “Oh yes you could, I think that is a very good idea, I shall bring the first four along and if I remember to do so I will pay you money regularly for looking after them”. 
I hope that Anna Godfrey was paid the money that she was owed and on time, but if she was she would have been one of the few! I expect that my father said that he would bring only his very best behaved boys to live at Brockhill but this was clearly another little fib and knowing who was taken to Brockhill it seems to me that they were mostly the boys who were most disruptive in the other houses. I am delighted to see many of them here today and what an extraordinary thing it is to reach the age of Anna Godfrey and to have so many expressions of affection from around the world that have come from the boys who enjoyed the Brockhill experience.
I expect that my father occasionally shouted at Anna Godfrey – after all why not, he shouted at the rest of us – but I know that from all that I have heard from Anna’s family she had a great deal of affection for him and equally I know that he had great affection and respect for her. 
I would like you to choose a word that sums up Anna Godfrey as far as you are concerned. I have chosen one and it is centred around the word ‘care’ and would include caring, careful and cared. Anna Godfrey cared for the people who were lucky enough to be chosen to go to Brockhill. She was endlessly diplomatic and no doubt had to listen to all the cares and woes of a whole series of boys over very many years. Clearly she loved it and in an interview given about six years ago she is on record as saying that the times spent with “her boys” were the happiest days of her life. 
In their turn they cared for her, as did her family and her friends who are gathered here today to say goodbye to her. What a wonderful epitaph it is that at the end of such a long life such a widespread group of people should get together to thank Anna and to say goodbye. 
May God grant that Anna rests in peace.

Remembering a Dear Friend.



On Friday 1 February 2002 at St Michael’s Church, Ingoldisthorpe we said goodbye for the very last time to our dear friend Anna Godfrey who had sadly passed away peacefully a few days earlier.
Family and friends of Anna’s gathered together on a windswept day in February to pay their last respects and almost certainly brought with them their own individual personal memories of Anna.
It was fitting and right that the family should invite Simon Pott to give a short address during Anna’s funeral service and he reminded everyone the part Anna had played in our lives over many years.
A junior school I attended before arriving in Norfolk had as its school motto “Service before Self” and having never forgotten this motto I also feel it is very apt and proper to attach a similar label to Anna Godfrey’s life throughout.
Many of you will recall an article I wrote for “The Mitre” in the autumn of 1995 entitled “Brockhill – A Place Apart” and highlighting the many aspects of Anna’s life as a young girl at school and through into a life of service to the Tylden Family at The Manor in Ingoldisthorpe.
You will recall how Anna’s father, who was also an Estate worker, had agreed with the Tylden family that Anna should be sent down to work for General Tylden, son of the late Mrs Tylden, in Kent to work as a Ladies Maid on the Estate located in the small village named “Brockhill” near Hythe.
Anna Godfrey was a self-trained diplomat and the sole of discretion. She was not only a friend to many of us but assumed the role, when appropriate, of “Mum” “Aunt” “Counsellor” and “Mediator”.
As she said to me on numerous occasions, “………….Looking after ‘my boys’ were the happiest days of my life”.
And since? Well, those of us who have attended OMA Reunion Weekends and especially the Sunday Service at Ingoldisthorpe can never forget the sheer joy and delight that shone from Anna’s face being together again with ‘her boys’.
“Anna, I know I represent all members of the Association when I say what a pleasure it was to know you for so many years. You will be missed by everyone but never forgotten”.

John Wallington.