A CHARITY stalwart and much-loved mother has died, only two days before her 87th birthday.

Tributes have been paid to Olive Elcock, of Riccall, who died at York Hospital on November 7, and a celebration of her life is being held at St Mary’s Church in Riccall on Thursday at 12.15pm.

Her family has asked for donations in lieu of flowers to the church, or York Against Cancer.

Mrs Elcock moved to Riccall from Ipswich in 1947 at the age of 21 when she married Claude. They and their growing family later moved to County Durham in 1966, then to Barlby in 1969, and back to Riccall in 1971.

When her husband set up Elcock Power Tools that year, Mrs Elcock took a job working nights at Fletcher’s factory, now Greencore, in a role she called a Fletcher’s Fairy, but also worked alongside her husband, including helping with the company’s accounts.

The couple had nine children, two of whom died before their mother – Ruth, aged seven months, and Colin, at the age of 41.

Liz Atkinson, Mrs Elcock’s youngest daughter, said: “She was always kind- hearted and upbeat. Nothing was too hard for her. She was very self-sufficient until the last few months. Dad died at 60, and she couldn’t drive, so it was either a case of sit and twiddle thumbs or get up and do something.

“She passed her test at the age of 62, and took all her friends out to the hairdressers, chiropodist or bingo, and out for coffee whenever.”

In 2005, Mrs Elcock urged 150 friends and relatives invited to her 80th birthday party to donate money to Cancer Research UK instead of buying a present, and raised £1,340.

Mrs Elcock also ran the Over 60s Club and the Darby and Joan Club in Riccall for several years, and made clothes for babies at York Hospital’s Special Care Baby Unit.

She leaves children David, Yvonne, Rodney, Ivan, John, Andrew, and Liz.