Annie's family write:
Our darling daughter Annie died of natural causes on 12 June aged only 41. It was very sudden and unexpected. Annie died too soon and we are all devastated by our loss but our family has been overwhelmed by the love and support shown us which has been so helpful in carrying us through this dark time.
We‘ve been inundated with comments and cards – many mention her liveliness, her laughter, her warmth, her ability to connect with, welcome and reach out to people of every kind, always looking out for the stranger or someone who felt they were an ‘outsider’. She was a compassionate, gentle, non-judgmental listener who brought out the best in her students and friends.
These are just some of the comments we’ve received:
‘Annie spent her life serving God and others.’
‘Thank God for the gift of her life in the world - she did so much good.’
‘In her lifetime she had achieved what many do not manage in twice as much time on earth. I think the Lord will
surely say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant.’
‘ She certainly lived life to the full and packed so much into her short time on earth. She reached out to so many
people.‘
‘Working with Annie was SO much fun. Yet amidst all the silliness, she taught me a huge amount about faith,
hope and love.’
We found a small notebook on Annie’s desk with just one entry which, given the circumstances, seemed prophetic: ‘Don’t just live the length of life; live the breadth of it as well.’
Annie’s faith was central to her life. A friend from the same school year remembers seeing her at weekends in the village pub where she was always the life and soul of the crowd. He told me he was always impressed at the deep faith of her special friendship group in their teenage years. Indeed, the group met once a week before school to pray together as well as their regular Sunday evening meeting which she often led.
Annie went to Sheffield University to read American Studies in 1997 and never left the city, apart from a year at UNC Chapel Hill as part of her course where she integrated fully with US students rather than sticking with the ex-pat group. After a year as chaplaincy assistant - where her role involved welcoming and being available for students and leading liturgies - she took a degree in Biblical Studies, learning Hebrew and Greek, and continued her studies to gain an M.Phil. Teaching RE followed at a Sixth Form College in Nottingham travelling every day from Sheffield. She was later asked to teach Philosophy and decided to broaden her knowledge by taking a degree in PPE with the Open University graduating with First Class Honours.
She joined Church Army’s Training Team in October 2016. It was the perfect job, combining her Scripture knowledge, easy manner with people from all walks of life and her skill in writing and delivering resources. Being a Catholic added another dimension to the team. Church Army works in some of the most deprived communities in the UK and Ireland, working with children and teenagers, the elderly and everyone in between. It also serves those who are homeless, lonely, those experiencing self-harm, who are at risk of gang or knife crime, the unemployed and those who are struggling to make ends meet.
Annie was also involved in various ecumenical and evangelistic initiatives in Sheffield and beyond including many years as a Samaritans’ volunteer, often doing the night shift despite working full time. She was a key member of the Night Fever Mission team in Sheffield - an evening of prayer, music, contemplation and outreach at St Marie's Cathedral which takes place two or three times a year. Many of those who are invited in have no previous experience of church and enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere Annie and others provided.
She loved travelling and visited many countries: USA, Australia, the Far East, North Africa, Kenya and parts of Europe. She had friends from many parts of the world and enjoyed being part of the international community in Sheffield. She was a keen walker, exploring the countryside in the UK. She also made a walking pilgrimage in April 2016 from Sheffield to the shrine in Walsingham in Norfolk, journeying 15 or so miles a day. On one of the days she met some ladies who were running a food bank. She wrote: ‘They gave me tea and biscuits and made a fuss of me – after meeting with them briefly word of my pilgrimage seemed to spread in the town, so that people approached me in the street and in the pub of the next town to ask if I was the one walking to Walsingham ...’ Each evening she wrote a blog of her reflections, ending on the last day with a quote from Helen Keller: ‘Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing at all.’
A highlight for her was making the Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. James, Christina and Catherine have signed up to make the pilgrimage on a virtual basis in her memory: https://www.facebook.com/608650595820049/posts/3264336950251387/?d=n
In August 2012 and August 2013, she volunteered in a Children’s Home near Nairobi, Kenya. The Home was established in 2005 by a local woman, Teresia, to care for destitute children from the streets of Nairobi. Typically these children have been victims of abuse or neglect. Some of them are orphans; all of them are vulnerable. Teresia went out into the streets to find children and offer them a home. When Annie visited there were over 100 children being cared for. The organisation, Heritage of Faith and Hope, has established a school in the Mlolongo area and its students are doing extremely well. Lives have been transformed and education has enabled these children to lift themselves out of drug addiction, poverty and despair.
Annie wrote: ‘Volunteering in the Home is an uplifting and enriching experience. My tasks include playing with the small children (who get very little one-to-one attention), teaching them basic Art, English and Maths, weighing tomatoes and other food, logging donations, helping to set up basic computer systems and helping to sell the Home’s produce in the local community. When I visited in 2013, my friends Teresia and Joseph took me to another Home that they have recently set up in Murang’a, which is about three hours away from Nairobi. This new Home has very little – no sanitation, no water, no electricity, very little food, no money for clothes or school fees. So this new Home in Murang’a has become my personal charity project.’ Annie continued to raise funds for the project which she sent regularly to Kenya. We plan to keep the charity going in her honour.
Annie was our middle child of five, although only seven minutes older than her twin Joe. She is survived by her brothers James, Matt, Joe and her sister Catherine, James and Christina’s children Cormac 13, Maggie 11, Maeve 8, Lorcan 5 and Ambrose 2, Matt and Caroline’s daughter Eve 3 and Joe and Laura’s twins Rosie and Isabelle 3 as well as many godchildren. Annie was always a very hands-on aunt and godmother. She loved visiting the little ones and playing all sorts of silly games.
Our middle three were only 18 months apart and they were very close: people were sometimes unsure which two were the twins. Growing up with three brothers Annie often hoped for a sister. There were nearly ten years between her and Catherine but in adulthood the gap diminished and they became close friends.
It was a privilege and a great joy to have known her but sadly for such a short while. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
Annie's family write:
Our darling daughter Annie died of natural causes on 12 June aged only 41. It was very sudden and unexpected. Annie died too soon and we are all devastated by our loss but our family has been overwhelmed by the love and support shown us which has been so helpful in carrying us through this dark time.
We‘ve been inundated with comments and cards – many mention her liveliness, her laughter, her warmth, her ability to connect with, welcome and reach out to people of every kind, always looking out for the stranger or someone who felt they were an ‘outsider’. She was a compassionate, gentle, non-judgmental listener who brought out the best in her students and friends.
These are just some of the comments we’ve received:
‘Annie spent her life serving God and others.’
‘Thank God for the gift of her life in the world - she did so much good.’
‘In her lifetime she had achieved what many do not manage in twice as much time on earth. I think the Lord will
surely say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant.’
‘ She certainly lived life to the full and packed so much into her short time on earth. She reached out to so many
people.‘
‘Working with Annie was SO much fun. Yet amidst all the silliness, she taught me a huge amount about faith,
hope and love.’
We found a small notebook on Annie’s desk with just one entry which, given the circumstances, seemed prophetic: ‘Don’t just live the length of life; live the breadth of it as well.’
Annie’s faith was central to her life. A friend from the same school year remembers seeing her at weekends in the village pub where she was always the life and soul of the crowd. He told me he was always impressed at the deep faith of her special friendship group in their teenage years. Indeed, the group met once a week before school to pray together as well as their regular Sunday evening meeting which she often led.
Annie went to Sheffield University to read American Studies in 1997 and never left the city, apart from a year at UNC Chapel Hill as part of her course where she integrated fully with US students rather than sticking with the ex-pat group. After a year as chaplaincy assistant - where her role involved welcoming and being available for students and leading liturgies - she took a degree in Biblical Studies, learning Hebrew and Greek, and continued her studies to gain an M.Phil. Teaching RE followed at a Sixth Form College in Nottingham travelling every day from Sheffield. She was later asked to teach Philosophy and decided to broaden her knowledge by taking a degree in PPE with the Open University graduating with First Class Honours.
She joined Church Army’s Training Team in October 2016. It was the perfect job, combining her Scripture knowledge, easy manner with people from all walks of life and her skill in writing and delivering resources. Being a Catholic added another dimension to the team. Church Army works in some of the most deprived communities in the UK and Ireland, working with children and teenagers, the elderly and everyone in between. It also serves those who are homeless, lonely, those experiencing self-harm, who are at risk of gang or knife crime, the unemployed and those who are struggling to make ends meet.
Annie was also involved in various ecumenical and evangelistic initiatives in Sheffield and beyond including many years as a Samaritans’ volunteer, often doing the night shift despite working full time. She was a key member of the Night Fever Mission team in Sheffield - an evening of prayer, music, contemplation and outreach at St Marie's Cathedral which takes place two or three times a year. Many of those who are invited in have no previous experience of church and enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere Annie and others provided.
She loved travelling and visited many countries: USA, Australia, the Far East, North Africa, Kenya and parts of Europe. She had friends from many parts of the world and enjoyed being part of the international community in Sheffield. She was a keen walker, exploring the countryside in the UK. She also made a walking pilgrimage in April 2016 from Sheffield to the shrine in Walsingham in Norfolk, journeying 15 or so miles a day. On one of the days she met some ladies who were running a food bank. She wrote: ‘They gave me tea and biscuits and made a fuss of me – after meeting with them briefly word of my pilgrimage seemed to spread in the town, so that people approached me in the street and in the pub of the next town to ask if I was the one walking to Walsingham ...’ Each evening she wrote a blog of her reflections, ending on the last day with a quote from Helen Keller: ‘Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing at all.’
A highlight for her was making the Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. James, Christina and Catherine have signed up to make the pilgrimage on a virtual basis in her memory: https://www.facebook.com/608650595820049/posts/3264336950251387/?d=n
In August 2012 and August 2013, she volunteered in a Children’s Home near Nairobi, Kenya. The Home was established in 2005 by a local woman, Teresia, to care for destitute children from the streets of Nairobi. Typically these children have been victims of abuse or neglect. Some of them are orphans; all of them are vulnerable. Teresia went out into the streets to find children and offer them a home. When Annie visited there were over 100 children being cared for. The organisation, Heritage of Faith and Hope, has established a school in the Mlolongo area and its students are doing extremely well. Lives have been transformed and education has enabled these children to lift themselves out of drug addiction, poverty and despair.
Annie wrote: ‘Volunteering in the Home is an uplifting and enriching experience. My tasks include playing with the small children (who get very little one-to-one attention), teaching them basic Art, English and Maths, weighing tomatoes and other food, logging donations, helping to set up basic computer systems and helping to sell the Home’s produce in the local community. When I visited in 2013, my friends Teresia and Joseph took me to another Home that they have recently set up in Murang’a, which is about three hours away from Nairobi. This new Home has very little – no sanitation, no water, no electricity, very little food, no money for clothes or school fees. So this new Home in Murang’a has become my personal charity project.’ Annie continued to raise funds for the project which she sent regularly to Kenya. We plan to keep the charity going in her honour.
Annie was our middle child of five, although only seven minutes older than her twin Joe. She is survived by her brothers James, Matt, Joe and her sister Catherine, James and Christina’s children Cormac 13, Maggie 11, Maeve 8, Lorcan 5 and Ambrose 2, Matt and Caroline’s daughter Eve 3 and Joe and Laura’s twins Rosie and Isabelle 3 as well as many godchildren. Annie was always a very hands-on aunt and godmother. She loved visiting the little ones and playing all sorts of silly games.
Our middle three were only 18 months apart and they were very close: people were sometimes unsure which two were the twins. Growing up with three brothers Annie often hoped for a sister. There were nearly ten years between her and Catherine but in adulthood the gap diminished and they became close friends.
It was a privilege and a great joy to have known her but sadly for such a short while. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
