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Mary Betteridge 1933 - 2025

Mary was born on 8th March 1933 in the
Cornelia Hospital (now Poole Hospital) to
Percy Charles Linnington (known as
Charlie) and his wife Hylda who had married
6 years earlier.

Charlie already had Vera, Mary’s half sister,
from his first marriage before he was
widowed. The sixteen year age gap be-
tween them meant that Mary first became
an Aunty at the age of 8! Six years after
Mary was born, along came Elizabeth (‘Liz’), completing the Lin-
nington girls trio. The girls remained close throughout their lives,
visiting each other when they could and calling and writing in
between, eager for news of each other and their families.

Mary went to Mount Scar school where she met her forever friends
Pam, Elsie and Freda. The aptly named Golden Girls have been
friends since they were 3, supporting each other through life’s
highs and lows for just shy of 90 years. I know Mary valued these
longstanding friendships so dearly. They certainly got up to some
high jinks, including a time up at Durlston when the girls wanted to
pick some flowers growing over the cliffs edge. It was decided that
Mary would be the one to get them, being the smallest. She was
aided by the others who dangled her over the wall at the edge of
the cliff, holding onto her by her ankles, lowering her further
towards the crashing waves until she could reach them. If they
weren’t creating mischief along the coast, they could be found in
the bicycle shed in Pam’s garden, of which they were allowed to
use half. They had lots of fun times there, even once sneaking in a
boy and hiding him under their coats when they were checked on
by the grown up’s.

Mary’s eternal selflessness and thought for others showed during
the war, when the girls made up and acted small plays and held
fetes, charging money which they gave to the Red Cross. One day
the girls were on the fields at Townsend when the German planes

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