In loving memory of Alison Perry who sadly passed away on 1st July 2024.
A Service of Celebration will be held in memory of Alison at St Andrew's Church, Taunton, at 1.30pm on Monday 29th July. If you are unable to attend and you are on-line, it is planned to stream the celebration of Ali’s life from 1.30pm on Monday 29th July here: https://www.facebook.com/StAndrewsChurchTaunton . You should also be able to pick up a recording of it shortly after the celebration finishes. If you want to try it out beforehand, the Sunday 10am service is streamed each week from the same place.
Parking for the church can be found at Kilkenny Car Park (what3words.com address is ///plates.lives.bliss) or the Multi Storey carpark at the slightly further away Taunton Station (///comb.define.scout)
In the week prior to the service there will be a private cremation with family in attendance, and directly before the Service of Celebration there is to be a private Interment of Ashes ceremony in the Garden of Remembrance at the church.
To make a donation to the family’s chosen charity ‘St Andrew's Church’ visit www.crescent-donations.co.uk. A Just Giving link to include a Gift Aid option will be shared once it is created.
Alison was the youngest of four daughters to George and Betty Brooks born on the 28th February 1955. She had a very happy childhood playing in the nearby Taunton Green Playing Field and on one occasion falling in the stream, which her Mum (Betty Brooks) had told her to keep clear of but returned home dripping wet. Holidays consisted of trips on the train to local seaside resorts, staying in caravans in places accessible by train as Ali's Dad, George was a train driver and got free travel.
She attended two schools, St Andrew's School and Bishop Fox's Girls Grammar School. She worked at Goodman's Stationer and Marks and Spencer as a teenager. At this time she joined Temple Methodist Youth Club which is where she met Bill... who had a car and took her and two friends home after club. After a couple of years of courting, Bill and Ali got married at St Andrew's Church on November 29th, 1975. Their reception was at Farthings Hotel in Hatch Beauchamp and their honeymoon in Stratford-Upon-Avon.
Their first house was 39 Portman Street where they undertook a huge amount of renovation. So good was their work that, when the house sold recently in 2020, it still had many of the features they had put in.
Following O and A-levels, Alison started work at County Hall and took more qualifications, starting a job as Office Manager at The Castle Secondary School. This was quickly curtailed as Carolyn was born in June 1979 shortly followed by Nicola in April 1982. In 1985 they moved to 13 Draycott Avenue.
Alison's career continued including work as a Tupperware agent, shelf stacking at Sainsbury's, as the first Church Secretary of St Andrew's Church, followed by 28 years as the school Secretary of St Andrew's School.
As the children grew, holidays included caravans, the joys of Eurocamp in France and self catering houses. In 1993, Bill and Alison bought their trailable narrowboat, Tophyl of Taunton, which gave them over 30 years of enjoyment, meeting many new friends who shared their passion for boating.
Alison loved socialising and a big part of this was playing with the Unicorn Badminton Club where she remained in the A-team for longer than she thought she should! Ali brought her organising skills to the fore, helping coordinate the twinning with a club in Lisieux in Normandy, France which remained active for 30 years until Covid.
After retirement from the St Andrew’s School office Ali gave her time freely to the Taunton Foodbank as Secretary to the Trustees. She found this role fulfilling in so many ways.
In recent years, Bill and Alison welcomed four grandchildren, Evelyn, Millie, Callum and Sophie, all of whom brought joy to Alison as she watched them grow.
Throughout Alison's life, Bill was a constant and loving presence and they were a loving and devoted couple for 49 years of marriage.
Alison was a life-long member of St Andrews Church, passionately fundraising as her mother had before her, running Sunday school and playing in the music group. It is impossible to imagine her Service of Celebration being held anywhere other than St Andrew's Church, where we will commemorate her life at 1.30 pm on Monday 29th July.
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