Mansfield Woodhouse's well known moped 'lady with the dog' dies aged 108

An ‘indomitable’ woman who was well-known in the Mansfield Woodhouse area as the moped ‘lady with the dog’ has died aged 108.
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Miss Vera Keeling, late of Catherine Avenue, Mansfield Woodhouse, died at Woodside Nursing Home, Spion Kop, Warsop, on Tuesday April 2.

Vera, who was a member of St Edmund’s Church, was well known for riding around the area on a moped with a pet miniature Pomeranian in the basket.

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The youngest of four sisters, Phyllis, Sybil and Grace, Vera was born in Sharlston, near Wakefield, on November 8, 1911, to Tom and Annie Keeling.

Vera KeelingVera Keeling
Vera Keeling

Her family later settled in Warsop and her father, who was a sometime Colliery Manager, died in 1929.

According to her nephew, Anthony Ian Hale, Vera, along with her sister Sybil and her mother, worked together to become examples of that “indomitable tribe of single women who managed to carve out a respectable and reasonably comfortable life in a world with little social security provision.”

He said, “In a hostile world, they survived, yet always showed compassion and charity.”

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Vera trained as a secretary, during Second World War, working for the ATS Postal Section in Nottingham. After the war she worked as a secretary in the County Court Office in Mansfield, and then as secretary to one of the managers at Hollins Mills, Pleasley Vale.

During the early part of the war they sheltered the daughter of a refugee Slovakian family, and later befriended a German POW .

According to Mr Hale, he was a musician, and a “mild -mannered, unwarlike young man,” who corresponded with the family for many years after he returned to Germany.

Mr Hale said: “Vera was a strong Christian and was involved with St Edmund’s Church and enjoyed singing in the choir. She was the sort of Christian who practised what she preached, helping people such as sheltering people during the War, she had a good heart,

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She was very well known in Woodhouse, a character, known as the ‘lady with the dog’ in the basket,’ she was often seen in the area on her moped with a miniature Pomeranian riding along in the basket sat at the front.

“I remember she had a succession of them, she really took to the breed, the last one was called Bumble, and a previous one was called Trixie.”

He added: “Until she was quite elderly, Vera would think nothing of journeying to her caravan at Trusthorpe for the summer holidays,

“Even when she became less mobile, and was driven by friends to her caravan, she would always insist on them taking the moped along on a trailer so it was there should she need it!”

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Becoming more frail during her nineties, Vera moved to Elizabeth House in Woodhouse. After her 100th birthday her health gradually declined, and in mid March she was finally moved to Woodlands Care Home at Spion Kop for more full time care.

A funeral is to be held at Warsop, at 1pm, on Thursday, April 9.

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