Horse lover’s ashes scattered at Coniston Horse Trials

The ashes of a woman who was well known in local equestrian circles will be scattered on Friday at the Coniston Horse Trials grounds where she was a judge for more than 20 years.
Marian StansfieldMarian Stansfield
Marian Stansfield

Marian Stansfield (formerly Hawthorne) died in September after six weeks in hospital, following an accident at her home in Barnoldswick.

Mrs Stansfield was born in Clitheroe where her father, Frank Whittaker, worked for Robinson & Spensley, collecting eggs from farms.

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Because of this, he met the Smith family who had the Cock Bridge pub, farm and riding school.

She started riding there and improved enough to have her first success at Great Harwood Agricultural Show in a novice show pony class.

She married a solicitor, David Hawthorne, and moved to Nelson, after which she was invited to become the treasurer of the newly formed North East Lancashire Riding Club.

The couple went on to have three children, Kim, Tracey and David, and she loved to hunt with the Pendle Forest & Craven Hunt, where she met her second husband, Roger Stansfield. She then moved to Nappa farm between Gisburn and Settle.

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She became involved with horse trials in the north, judging for many years at Skipton and Bramham and particularly at Coniston Horse Trials, where she judged at the same two fences for 22 years. She eventually moved to Barnoldswick, working for several years at Country Holidays in Earby, then at Tesco’s in Skipton for a long time, becoming shop steward.