PEOPLE were offered an open invitation to attend a service in memory of a reclusive poet who captured the spirit of Torbay in her verse.

Beryl Down had no family and very few friends left in the world when she died earlier this month at the age of 86, but hundreds could attend her funeral.

Heading the list of mourners will be internationally renowned singing star Keedie Babb, who has promised to sing two songs at the service.

Organiser Dave Haddock, one of Beryl's few friends, has invited all of Keedie's fans to come along and swell the numbers.

And, because Beryl had no family, he has extended the invitation to anyone who wishes to attend the 'light-hearted' service and learn more about Beryl's wonderful work.

A collection will be made with proceeds going to Beryl's favourite charity, Children's Hospice South West.

Dave said: "This isn't going to be a doom-and-gloom affair. Beryl was a big fan of Keedie and we are very privileged she is coming. She would have wanted it to be light-hearted and that is what it is going to be."

Beryl, who was born in Exeter but lived in Paignton for most of her life, wrote thousands of poems featuring the places where she lived and worked and the people she met along the way including Royalty, Stars of Stage Screen and Radio and her own personal life from the age of 7 years.

For 40 years she worked as a milliner and seamstress at Rossiter's department store in Paignton, Devon which, by a quirk of fate, is closing down (after trading in the town for the past 150 years) for good the day after the service.

Beryl died at Little Oldway residential home Paignton on 11th January 2009 surrounded by her cherished collection of Gracie Fields records and poems.

Dave said: "She was extremely eccentric and, for the last 20 years of her life, lived in her own world of poems Gracie Fields and Keedie.

"All she wanted to do was write poems. She wrote a whole life story of Gracie Fields in verse and had letters from the Queen, Charlie Chaplin, Margaret Thatcher, Harold Wilson, Anna Neagle, Catherine Cookson, Gracie Fields and many others thanking her for her poems."

Many of Beryl's poems recall staff and life at Rossiter's Department Store Paignton where Beryl worked for over 40 years, particularly members of the Rossiter family.

Store boss Nigel Rossiter said: "I have a very vivid memory of her from when I first started in the 1970s.

"She was a timid, slightly mousey person who didn't tell anyone she wrote all these lovely poems.

"She was a really excellent, first-class seamstress.

"She was one of those members of staff who served Rossiter's with distinction for many years and got on quietly with their work.

"I hope to attend the service if I can and have let her old work friends know about it."

After her mother died in the 1980s, Beryl withdrew from the world, became a recluse, and wrote hundreds of poems at her ramshackle home in Monastery Road Paignton.

She gained world attention four years ago when Dave put her work online.

In her poem 'Home Town' she wrote: 'Here I spent my childhood here I will remain, my love for glorious Devon will never ever wane.'

To see more of Beryl's wonderful work, log on to www.ourgracie.com

©Story courtesy of Torquay Herald Express Newspaper

Keedie commences the service with 'Ave Marie' followed by 'Time To Say Goodbye'