St Albans ambulance stalwart dies in Ireland

HARPENDEN: A stalwart of St Albans Ambulance service for two decades, Molly Webb, has died in Ireland after a short illness.

Molly, 86, was brought up in Harpenden, initially in Salisbury Road and then South View Road in Batford.

She went on to have three children, all born in the town – Richard, Patricia (Trish) and Penny – and recalled the flying bombs over the Batford area during the war years and giving her two eldest children coupons to go to Woolworths in the High Street for their sweet ration.

Molly spent a large period of her working life as an ambulance driver, unique in her ability to navigate through London without a map.

Trish said: “Many patients transported by Molly were quite young and suffering from terminal cancer and Molly would spend a lot of time talking and listening to them. It was not unusual for her to come home with gifts from the patients as a thank you. She was a really special lady.”

When Molly retired from work at 65, she moved from the family home in Lyndhurst Close, Harpenden, to spend a couple of years in Somerset living with Richard before moving to Eastbourne.

For the last 18 months of her life she lived with her youngest daughter Penny in southern Ireland where she died in mid March. Her funeral was held in Cork.

Trish added: “Molly had obviously made quite an impression in the brief 18-month period she resided there and received the greatest regard and respect from all the local community.”

She invited people to contact her at trish.webb@yahoo.co.uk