Blocked

                   Also endowed 20 Dec 1975
Family Group Sheet of Effie Thomas shows incomplete date of sealing to parents of 3 Jan 197?
Name also spelled Lottie.
Lottie had no children.

Lottie Bettridge, a nurse who had been assistan Matron at the Birmingham City Hospital for some years, had, at the age of thirty eight, married a widower many years her senior.  Her husband, Thomas Henry (Harry) Ludford, was destined to become my one and oly Uncle and one of my greatest friends.  He lived in the charming old world village of Kirk Hammerton, which is situated on the River Nidd and is just about half way between York and Harrogate in Yorkshire.  The homes in the Kirk Hammerton all had picturesque names and most of them were either on or near the village street.  My Aunt's house, "Rose Lea" had formerly served for many years as the Villiage Inn.  It was an old stone structure standing back some distance from the street, being secluded by a brick wall.  In order to reach the front door one had to pass through an old oaken gate and walk down a pathway leading through an old fashioned garden abounding in roses from which the  house took its name.

Leaving "Rose Lea" and walking east on the village street one soon came to the Village Church.  This beautiful piece of architecture boasted a tower whose base dated back to Saxton Times.  The remainder of the church had probably been built or renewed during the Norman era.  The green and well-kept Church Yard whose crosses marked the graves of villagers for centuries past, still served the village as a burial ground.

Across the village street to the south of the church stood the imposing Village Hall, the manor house where Colonel Staniforth, the Squire and virtual owner of Kirk Hammerton, had his residence.  At that same corner but forming a kin of island in the intersection of the village street and a road which crossed it from north to south was the traditional Village Green, shaded by its proverbial Chestnut trees.

Turning the corner by the church, crossing the street and walking some distance north one came to the village school.  The schoolhouse was of red brick and consisted of just two classrooms, which served to educate all age groups from Kindergarten to Fourteen years.  Nor do I us the work "educate" lightly, for the classroom which housed the village children aged eight and over was the domain of the ablest teacher I have ever known.  Well advanced into middle age, Miss Hook was tall and slim with a short straight pompadour of grey hair.  She taught, and taught well, every subject in the curriculum.  Each child received individual attention, and the scholastic standards of her classroom were far in advance of those of the very much larger school which I attended in Hucknall.

Her neice, Effie May Bettridge spent the Christmas Holiday at "Rose Lea" with her Aunt and Uncle.  She says, "I don't remember the details of that Christmas holiday spent in Kirk Hammerton with my Aunt and Uncle; nor do I remember the gifts I received.  Almost cerrtainly Uncle and I attended the Christmas services at the Weslayan jChapel where he was a lay preacher, and almost certainly my Aunt remained home to prepare the traditional dinner of roast foul, plum pudding, and mince pies.  Somehow, though the exact events of that day have long been forgotten, I know it was just about the happiest Christmas I shall ever know."