Memorial service to celebrate life of artist and teacher Betty

Former colleagues, friends and family came from all over the country to pay tribute to a well known artist and former teacher who died at the age of 92.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th Feb 2018, 15:42 BST
Updated 20th Feb 2018, 16:50 BST
Artist Betty Foster, whose life was celebrated in a special memorial service.Artist Betty Foster, whose life was celebrated in a special memorial service.
Artist Betty Foster, whose life was celebrated in a special memorial service.

Around 70 people packed into St Nicholas' Church in Sabden for the service to celebrate the life of Miss Elizabeth Foster, who was known as Betty.

People travelled from as far away as a Sussex, Derbyshire and Yorkshire to pay their own tributes to Betty as an artist, teacher and local personality.

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A former art teacher who was known for her vivacity and love of life, Betty was a prolific artist all her life and she celebrated her 90th birthday with an exhibition of her work at St Nicholas's Church.

She displayed more than 20 watercolour and oil paintings at the church where she had a long connection.

Betty also had some of her work hanging in Burnley's Towneley Hall.

Several years ago Betty created a sculpture of Mary and Jesus, entitled Mother and Child, which took pride of place at St Nicholas's.

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And poignantly the sculpture was placed with the casket on the altar for the memorial service.

The service was followed by a celebratory lunch and plans are the the pipeline to mount a retrospective exhibition of Betty's work later in the year.

Related topics:PeopleYorkshireDerbyshireSussex