Muriel Watts

A service will be held at Didcot for the benefit of friends of Muriel 'Kitty' Watts who were unable to attend her funeral in Hampshire.

Mrs Watts' ashes will be interred along with her late husband's at All Saints' Church on Friday, February 8, at 11am.

For many years, she was actively involved in Didcot life after being evacuated to the town during the Second World War.

Mrs Watts, 86, was born in Islington, London. She moved to Didcot during the blitz while her husband, Reg, was serving with the RAF in north Africa.

Like her husband, she was a printer and worked at Dawsons Printers, Mereland Road, Didcot, where she also lodged for some years.

After the war, Mr Watts became a railwayman and the couple moved into former Nissen huts in the town centre before being allocated a council house in Glyn Avenue.

Mrs Watts was a member of St Peter's Church choir, and was a teaching assistant at Northbourne CofE Primary School.

She was an enthusiastic dancer, performing ballet as well as amateur dramatics as a member of the Young Wives Group at the former Barn Church, Park Road, and was also a member of the Didcot Evening Townswomen's Guild.

Following the death of Mr Watts in 1977, she moved to sheltered accommodation at Blakes Field the following year.

But with the onset of Alzheimer's disease nearly five years ago, she moved to a residential home at Christchurch, Hampshire, near the home of her daughter, Jenny Parkinson.

Mrs Watts died in the Royal Bournemouth Hospital on January 17, and the funeral was at Mudeford, followed by cremation.

She leaves two daughters, Mrs Parkinson and Carol Lowe.