We got to know Susan after she joined Garforth in Bloom as a founder member.
She came to the first meeting at the sports centre, in July 2008 with her son Adam, who was 10 years old at that time.
She told me that if Garforth hadn’t started an in bloom group she was thinking of joining the one in Barwick, so it was our very good fortune, we got her first.
She had apparently shown an interest in plants from a very young age. As a little girl at home she would write little messages from the plants to her mother Ann, such as ‘please water me’ or ‘Dear Mrs Cracknell, will you please stop tapping and nipping us, from the tomatoes’.
On our early organised dig days, she would turn up on her bike with a spade attached, and get stuck into the hard work creating the first flower beds around the town.
She wanted to show Garforth off at its best and threw herself into the work with such infectious enthusiasm. She was keen for us to enter the annual Yorkshire in bloom competition and so we were persuaded to have a go.
She worked out the route for the tour with the RHS judges, she prepared the required port folio, which we had to submit prior to judging and she made a list of jobs for us to focus on. She presented Garforth to the judges and we were thrilled with our first result, a silver award.
In 2010 she took on the role of secretary of our group and after that there was no stopping her, ideas gushed from her at such a pace we were running to keep up.
She wanted to plant vegetables for the community and involved local schools in annual poster competitions. She organised an annual competition between our local public houses to encourage them to take a pride in the appearance of their premises.
She steered our group through successive entries in Yorkshire in Bloom, culminating in 2012 when Garforth was the winner of not only a Gold award, but best in our category, plus a judge’s discretionary award for community involvement. Added to that was the Duke of York Community Initiative Award, which was presented to her in person by HRH Prince Andrew, at a ceremony in York.
On top of this she had the idea of forming a ‘Friends of Garforth in Bloom’, giving residents the opportunity to contribute £5 or more per year towards the cost of plants, Susan would produce a quarterly newsletter to keep everyone informed and involved.
I had tried to tell her that this idea wouldn’t work, that people won’t just give money.
When her idea had raised its first £1000, she celebrated in typical Susan style, bringing a cake to one of our meetings to share and rub my nose in it! She continued to remind me of its ongoing success as new members signed up and another cake appeared to celebrate £2000 raised!
She recently handed over the running of ‘Friends of Garforth in Bloom’ to the capable hands of Joanne, which is a blessing; she wouldn’t trust me with it.
She organised the official opening of our Diamond Jubilee Garden, on 1st June 2012, which was attended by the Queens representative, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Major Stan Hardy. He read out a thank you letter from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. It was a very proud day for all of us at the start of the Queens Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The event was filmed by Matthew who later produced an edited CD of the event, which we will treasure.
A time capsule was buried in the garden and contains items which she collected from many community groups.
Because of our success in 2012, Garforth was invited to represent the whole of Yorkshire in the 2013 RHS Britain in Bloom Competition. Once again she stepped forward to get us organised, always so positive.
The walk of the intended route on a cold October day, took 6 hours, with Susan making a meticulously detailed list of the tasks ahead.
She gave the 15 minute presentation to the judges in the conference room at the Holiday Inn. Matthew operated the PowerPoint display whilst she spoke, she literally wooed the judges, and she bloomed.
As a result of the efforts of all our members, we were proud to be awarded sliver gilt. But she was the driving force, there’s no mistake.
She was always keen that we got value for money with the plants we bought. Karen and I were once on a short break in Ripon and we saw that a garden centre was selling off lavender plants at half price. I rang Susan to tell her and ask what she thought. She said I’ll come and have a look, she got straight into her car and drove up to Ripon. She filled her car with 60 plants and brought them back.
She was one of the safest and most competent drivers I have travelled with. I think some credit for her driving skills must go to the man who taught her to drive, her Dad Bernard.
Susan took over as Chairperson of Garforth in Bloom from last November 2013 and she was preparing to continue to enhance the appearance of our town by building on our past successes.
As if this wasn’t enough, she was also a friend to Garforth and District Lions Club and together with Matthew and Adam was a regular helper in December at the Christmas Santa street collections and selling programmes for the gala in July.
Susan was always thinking of others, she was so generous not only with time and hard work but was also very charitable. She was the person who never forgot birthdays, was always organising trips out or visits to places of interest. We are still to go to see The War horse at Bradford Alhambra in June and Billy Elliot in London in September, but sadly she will not now be with us.
She was a consummate giver of gifts and treats to people around her. She would often turn up with a box of buns she had just baked to hand out. She regularly provided tea and coffee, with biscuits for volunteers at our regular dig days. She would usually have her camera with her to record what was being achieved by our members.
Susan was always so grateful for the simple pleasures of life. She had recently created a list of 50 things to do before she was 50 and was slowly ticking them off. Little things like a visit to the Harvey Nichols store in Leeds, where she wanted to have the doorman open the door for her. She went along and loitered around nearby to get the timing just right so he would do it. Once in there she bought three things, none for herself, gifts for others.
Another one of her 50 was a visit to the Pump rooms at Harrogate. I don’t know what she was expecting, but she sent me a text saying, she hoped the other items on her list were more exciting, but they did have some Downton Abbey costumes. She did try and make the trip more exciting by going to Betty’s Tea room, but the queue was very long, so she went to Greggs for a pasty instead, she said ‘I know my place’.
She had such a joyful sense of fun and humour. She would give names to objects. Her Vauxhall Corsa car was Marmite, you either like them or hate them. Her Laptop computer was Lucy Laptop. If she had been working on something for in bloom and she wanted to show me she would say, I’ll call round and bring Lucy with me’.
On one of their days shopping together, Karen bought a fabric door stopper, it was made in the shape of a little dog and for some unknown reason Susan immediately named it Clifford,a name that stuck.
Then there was Steve T Duck, the little plastic duck which was a gift from Deborah. Susan, Matthew and Adam would loan him out to friends, who would then take him on trips, photograph him on location and hand him back. That little duck became so popular it was necessary to reserve him, he was in such demand. He got passed around, travelled the world and even had his own face book account and a passport.
Susan just loved people and their individuality. The way that Carol Woodhead would get in a verbal tangle or the way her emails would be written just as she speaks.
She held affectionate little tit bits about many if not all the people in her social and working life.
She was devoted to her two boys Matthew and Adam, always making plans for ways to have positive time with them doing the little things that they enjoyed together.
She enjoyed cycling and would often cycle from home to work at the Job Centre in Leeds.
She was planning a three day trip with Adam this summer along the Canal from Liverpool to Leeds.
Susan was a tremendous support to me whilst I was Chairperson of Garforth in Bloom and I was constantly teased about my lack of horticultural knowledge. Her support made it appear that I knew what I was doing and I know that with out her I am going to be found out.Although she was quite petit she had a huge heart ,big personality and a lovely way of genlt persuasion Our lives have certainly been enriched for having had the privilege of getting to know Susan and being regardedas her friend.
God bless you Susan, we continue to love you, you will be greatly missed and we will never forget you that is for sure.
I know it is not the usual thing to do at a funeral, but do you think we can give her a round of applause in appreciation for what she has done for Garforth. Well done Susan.
