Iris Willis: A true community champion!

‘I just like to help people’ - this was a phrase that Iris repeated several times, almost apologetically, as we chatted in her Sparkwell home.

Iris has lived in the village for 41 years, having been born and bred in Plymouth. Being a dab hand at sewing, she started her working life at womenswear manufacturer Berkertex, before later moving to local printers Kenroys, where she worked for some nine years.

She joined the Territorial Army when she was just 17, initially as a cook, and when the unit was disbanded in 1967 she joined the Queen Alexandra Nursing Service, attached to 211 Field Hospital at its barracks at Derriford. She’d work weekends and on a two week camp every year, eventually serving 30 years as a volunteer.

‘I remember being put on this ambulance train in Germany which we lived, ate and slept on for a fortnight - I loved it in the QA, you met so many nice people,’ said Iris. ‘I was in the TA for 30 years, the last ten of them doing the ambulance train for two weeks every year and two weekends a year, usually around Aldershot.’

It was through TA camp that Iris met her husband, Bob, an ambulanceman. Fifteen years her senior, he was already married and she was engaged to be married.

‘We couldn’t help ourselves,’ said Iris. ‘Even though he was much older than me - it was just electric. If someone had told me the weekend before I went away to camp that I’d be going out with a married man I’d have said “No way!”.

Bob and Iris married in 1969. Although she never had children herself, she loves her step-children and step-grandchildren deeply and many pictures of the family are displayed in her home.

Bob and Iris moved to Sparkwell in 1979 when Iris became the warden for Birchland Way Sheltered Housing - a job she loved and remained with until her retirement at the age of 60, in 2006.

‘No two days were ever the same and I’ve known some lovely people,’ said Iris. Yet despite being on call 24/7, Iris lost no time in throwing herself into community life with zest. She and a few others started up a weekly lunch club in the village hall after it was built in 1987, cheerfully cooking up two course meals for the over 60s. She got involved with the ‘Parish Pump’ magazine, making use of the experience she had gained when working for the printers. She’s still a mainstay of both initiatives, despite the lunches being affected by the Covid 19 restrictions.

‘I like keeping busy - I was cooking up a storm during lockdown - I’d rather be doing things for other people than tidying my house!’ she laughed. As if to emphasise the fact, a tea towel is returned via the backdoor, having been used to cover one of the hot cross bun loaves she regularly cooks to give away.

‘This year I have managed to get attendance allowance for four people who didn’t think they were entitled to it. One of these was a guy who could hardly walk across the room. Because of the job I was in, I know about filling in the forms, I just think if they’ve worked hard, they’ve paid their dues, they are entitled to it. It gives me a glow when I can help them,’ said Iris, who’s also a trustee for the Maudlin Trust and of Sparkwell Village Hall.

Iris cheerfully describes herself as bionic, having had two knee replacements, two shoulder replacements and false hip - but it doesn’t seem to slow her down in any way. She’s also a volunteer driver for Ivybridge Ring and Ride, having used their services herself. Sometimes it’s just a once a month trip, sometimes she has a couple of drives a week to do but she enjoys having a chat and passing on tips and helpful nuggets of information to local people.

Sadly Iris lost her soulmate Bob seven years ago. While she must miss him sorely, her attitude is typically upbeat: ‘We did everything, we went everywhere together. As an ambulance man he saw so many people that didn’t even reach retirement age. He went to Australia ten times, eight with me, we went all over Europe. The way I look at it, I had Bob for 44 wonderful years - my mum was married twice and she only had my Dad and step-Dad for ten years, so I think how lucky was I?’.

Jane Honey