Tuesday 26th August 2025
A legacy of love
Elizabeth Lockwood passed away on 27th May 2025 aged 96. She played a huge role in the founding and shaping of our home Shottermill House in Haslemere. Evelyn Dennett, the home's first “matron”, pays tribute
Born in 1929, Elizabeth Lockwood lived all her life in the Shottermill area of Haslemere. As her husband Kenneth puts it, “She was Shottermill.” She was incredibly skilled with her hands and ran Glovers, the local haberdashery, a family business passed down on her mother’s side.
Elizabeth was familiar with the work of Pilgrims’ Friend Society from an early age. Her father, Leslie Mills, was a long-standing member of the General Committee and her mother, Marian, was a Lady Visitor at the former home in Hornsey Rise, London. As a child, she even saved money for the charity in her money box and sent it off to the main office, receiving a thank you letter.
After her parents died, Elizabeth inherited Glovers shop together with an area of land behind the shop. Adjacent to the land was a house, Nuthatch. One day, Elizabeth spotted the house was up for sale. She’d long seen the need for a care home in the area and wondered if this could be an opportunity and mentioned it to Pilgrims’ Friend Society.
Following prayerful consideration, she and Ken decided to donate part of the land she’d inherited to our charity. Together with the land from Nuthatch, this would create an area large for a new care home to be built. A generous donation from the sale of the Charlotte Mason Home in London meant that there were sufficient funds to cover the cost of the work.
However, there were obstacles to overcome. A less-than enthusiastic response from the local council planning department and an unfavourable report in the local press necessitated much prayer. Thankfully, the Lord intervened and planning permission was granted. The old house was demolished and, in October 1988, building work on the new care home began.
I first met Elizabeth in August 1989 on our first visit to the building site. She struck me as a lady who could cope with anything that came her way. I was faced with the enormous task of setting up a care home from scratch and she was right there beside me. When the builders finally left, she was a great help, working alongside contract cleaners and rarely seen without her vacuum cleaner. When 29 beds were delivered, she organised a team of bed-makers. She also helped with unpacking goods, filling shelves, and all manner of other things. She even decorated my hat for me ahead of the opening ceremony on 2nd June 1990, with local MP Virginia Bottomley officially opening the home.
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Some of the first people to move in to Shottermill House came from the Camberwell home in London, built in 1834. The home was no longer suitable for older people – there were dreadful stories of them being mugged when collecting their pensions.
Elizabeth took the time to get to know each little group of ladies as they arrived. They couldn’t believe that they were now surrounded by so much greenery and Elizabeth took them out for rides in her car so they could enjoy the countryside. On one occasion she was greatly moved to discover a lady afraid of walking on the home’s nice new carpets in her old shoes
She didn’t need to be on a “committee”. She was our neighbour and she was always available as the Lord directed her. She and Ken often came in to help with devotions, providing accompaniment on the piano and organ. Elizabeth also regularly hosted coffee mornings, both at her own home and then at Shottermill House itself, and she was famous for making and selling marmalade on behalf of the charity.
Some of my most precious memories of Elizabeth are of her sitting with dear ones as they neared the end of their lives. She would stay with them for long hours, sometimes all night, to help relieve the staff, before going to open up her shop the next morning.
Elizabeth was such a loyal worker for Pilgrims’ Friend Society. A prayer warrior, she lived out her Christian faith in everything she did, not only for Shottermill House but for the wider community. With her help and compassion, I trust many lives were changed from knowing her.
When she herself came to live at Shottermill House for several years and was unable to join in activities or even leave her own room, she received the loving care from staff and visitors that she herself would have given others.
I’ve never known anyone quite like her.
Find out more about life at Shottermill House
Meet a carer...Lynn
Lynn was recently given The Way We Care Champion Award for her compassionate approach to caregiving at Shottermill House, Haslemere
A special delivery to our politicians
Those living with us have delivered copies of Empowering Communities to Care to their local MPs
