As many of my readers will know, Rosie Hubbard died recently and a funeral service was held in our parish church on Tuesday. I was unable to go due to COVID isolation but I did manage to put together a piece for the local press thanks to being sent the texts from the service and thanks to numerous photographs of Rosie sent to me by the family.
This blog is about how one person can change people's perceptions and how one person can make a difference in a community.
I had a lovely chat on Tuesday evening with Rosie's son Steve and he was quite overwhelmed at the love and friendship shown towards his mum. I thought about how best to sum up my views of Rosie and came up with something along the lines of "Rosie was always there and you never missed her until she wasn't."
As we say in Norfolk that's a rather cack handed and awkward way of expressing my views. What I was trying to say was simple. Everyone just accepted that Rosie would be there at various events setting things up, organising and then clearing away - always the first to turn up and the last to go. The only time people were confused would be when Rosie wasn't there - which was very rare. As they said in church when Rosie could no longer clean the building due to ill health, it took a whole rota of people to replace her.
I have heard heart-warming stories about how she funded books, cream eggs for Easter egg hunts, held regular coffee mornings for people who just wanted a chat, dropped anonymous parcels off for those in need and even, when she was on her way to the Hospice, insisted on a short delay while she wrote a birthday card for a neighbour. Rosie was always thinking of others and never about her self.
Rosie never asked for anything in return or any recognition. But that recognition has come forward in droves since she died. When I posted my Media piece on the All Things Hethersett Facebook page the responses were almost immediate and many of them brought a tear to the eye. Just a couple of comments amongst the many were:
"Without a shadow of a doubt, Rosie was the nicest person we have ever met."
"Such a lovely lady, she was what Hethersett was about."
Those two remarks somehow encapsulate who Rosie was and what she stood for. Rosie gave unstintingly of her time, her energy, her love and proved beyond doubt that it costs nothing to be nice.
She encapsulated everything that is good about our village and proved beyond doubt that one person can make a big difference in a community.
My hero, singer-songwriter Harry Chapin wrote these words.
Now if a (wo)man tried
To take his/her time on Earth
And prove before (s)he died
What one (wo)man's life could be worth
Well I wonder what would happen to this world.
Rosie certainly followed that creed and Hethersett was a better place for her being in it. And I am sure that in villages, towns and cities throughout the UK there are many more Dear Rosies. They may not have the same name but they bring the same amount of joy into people's lives.
Included with this blog are just a couple of the photographs of Rosie sent to me by the family. More will appear in the October edition of Hethersett Herald.