ONE of the Forest’s oldest residents, Lucy Reeks, has died at the age of 106.

Lucy and her late husband, Amos ‘Pundy’ Reeks, farmed at The Priory, Awre, for many years and shared a passion for ballroom dancing.

Born in Wimbledon, Lucy (also known as Nellie) Dalston came to live at Woolaston as a six-year-old.

Interviewed on her 100th birthday, she remembered the first motor in the village and a quieter world without planes.

She returned to London and worked there as a secretary before marrying ‘Pundy’ Reeks, of Stroat, who she had met at 15. Returning here in 1935, the couple lived at Denhill Farm, Tidenham Chase, before moving to The Priory by the River Severn in 1940, where they ran their dairy farm until retiring to Steam Mills and then Newnham.

They had three daughters – Ann, born in 1940, and twins Heather and Rosemary, born in 1944.

Mr Reeks died aged 93 in 2002, and, in recent years, Mrs Reeks lived with her eldest daughter Ann Bastion at Hanover Court, Cinderford.

“My mother was always very sociable and had a great sense of humour,” she said. “She was very strong-willed and her brain was sharp.

“She loved sewing. When we were children she made all our clothes – and her own. She was also a keen gardener and a good cook.”

Rosemary said: “She couldn’t cook when she first married. Dad used to joke that he got lots of burnt offerings.”

Ann described her mother as “a lively person who always had a sparkle in her eyes.”

Mrs Reeks’ funeral is on June 1 at St Peter’s Church, Newnham.