Martha (Poppy) Maud Clark

11 November 1928 – 23 October 2019

Martha Maud Spelvings was born on 11 November 1928 – Remembrance Day - and grew up in the village of Woolley near Alconbury. Martha was always known as ‘Poppy’ or ‘Pop’ and moved to Godmanchester in 1955 when she married Ralph Clark.

Poppy met Ralph in the cinema queue in Huntingdon and they married in February 1955 at the Baptist Church in Silver Street. Their first house was the house next to the Baptist Church, but subsequently they moved in 1961 to Pipers Lane. A decade later they moved to a detached bungalow in the same street which was surrounded by a large garden.

Poppy was a devoted wife to Ralph and mother to Janet, Carole and Tracy. She was always very active and walked or cycled everywhere – shopping was carried home from Huntingdon over the handlebars of her bike. In later life she enjoyed the weekly keep fit classes in the old school. Other hobbies included sewing and knitting and Poppy loved her garden and flowers. She was able to put flowers together to make beautiful arrangements and in her last few weeks she enjoyed Ralph’s beautiful dahlias in her room.

Poppy had three grandchildren and was very proud of them. When they stayed with her as young children she would bake, play tennis and take them blackberrying.

In 2018 Poppy celebrated her 90th birthday with her family. Poppy and Ralph enjoyed cake and balloons on their 64th wedding anniversary in February 2019 and although Poppy’s memory began to deteriorate towards the end of her life, she still knew her family most of the time. She liked looking at photographs and loved listening to music and singing along to songs. Poppy enjoyed the ‘Songs of Praise’ at the Baptist Church.

Poppy was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. She was always a loving, kind and thoughtful person – with a beautiful smile.

There are no goodbyes- she will always be in our hearts.

Janet Clark