A Short History on Tricia Drucker

​

Tricia Drucker was born on Christmas Eve 1944 in Liverpool, which was a bad start to her life as she only received single presents for her birthday and Christmas combined!

 

She was brought up in a humble working-class area of Liverpool.  She had a very harsh upbringing by her father but her mother took her to a little Baptist chapel on Sundays where she encountered warmth.  At the age of eleven, she was one of few pupils at her school to pass the 11+ exam and move to a grammar school.

            

At the age of fifteen she went on a coach trip from the chapel to Knaresborough, which was to change her life.  A boy from church had invited along his best friend.  That friend was David, who was 17 at the time. They did not particularly like one another initially and went out together because they fascinated one another. That fascination turned into love and, at the age of seventeen, Tricia became David's fiancee.  When she was only nineteen, and against all parents' wishes, she married David and began married life in a bedsit in a condemned house in the tough Liverpool 8 district.   On the first night, bottles were thrown through the window of a neighbouring bedsit! 

            

Life with an impecunious student husband was hard. On one occasion Tricia had cooked a fish meal which was very tough and David asked why the fish was uneatable.  She said she had got it free from the fishmonger because she had no money.  "Why was it free?" Tricia answered "I asked for fish scraps for the cat", to which David replied "We don't have a cat!"

           

While her husband collected two first degrees and a PhD, Tricia went out to work to earn money, sacrificing her own career.  

            

In 1968 they moved to South Wales, using a motor bike until a heavily pregnant Tricia could no longer fit on and slid off into snow as David gently set off!  Shortly afterwards a van replaced the motorbike.

            

In 1970 Tricia moved to Gatley, Cheshire, and supported David in the youth work he did as a scout commissioner.  She also became active in the Manchester University women's club, rising to become its secretary.  With the president, Lady Joan Armitage (the Vice Chancellor's wife), Tricia helped organise a Spring Fair each year which raised huge amounts for charity.  She also started part-time work at Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI).

            

In 1978 Tricia moved to the village of Alderley Edge where, every year, her vegetable patch seemed to grow and, simultaneously, David's back lawn seemed to shrink!    When David started an ecumenical youth club in the village, Tricia willingly gave up Saturday evenings to help him.  Even when ill with bronchitis and when the weather was foul, she helped.

            

Tricia had a lovely sense of humour and, when a cleaner at MRI asked where she lived, Tricia replied "Alderley Edge". "That's really posh" said the cleaner.  "It can't be if I live there" Tricia responded.

            

Tricia believed more should be done to help the starving in Africa and, with a handful of elderly folk from local chapels, organised events at her home which raised goodly sums of money.   This led to a major effort by the local church to follow her lead.

            

Tricia's work at MRI flourished and she collated renal research data throughout the North West.

            

Her concern for others resulted in her serving on the committee of a charity that cared for families of prisoners who were suffering because of what their husband/wife had done.  On one occasion, whilst she was attending a committee meeting in a rough area of East Manchester, an armed Bank robbery took place.  We later learned that the Police were looking for a yellow Jaguar XJS.  By a strange coincidence, Tricia's car was a yellow XJS!

            

Tricia shared David's love of cars and, when he struggled to remove a 4.2 litre cast iron engine and gearbox from a car, she stood on the base of an engine crane to stop the weight of the engine pulling over the crane.  She was very good at taking the role of workshop foreman, telling David how to rebuild a Jaguar engine.  Needless to say, it was advice which was not always appreciated.

            

Tricia rapidly completed the Guardian crossword every day and once, on holiday, she watched a family solve only two crossword clues in 20 minutes before getting off the train and leaving the paper behind. Within five minutes she had completed the crossword, despite the fact that the train was in Switzerland and the paper was in German.

            

Tricia was a keen organist and played at many chapels near Alderley Edge, including a hospital for those with mental disabilities where she was well liked.  One day a patient offered to see her home safely.  It was only then that Tricia noticed the patient wore a home-made star carrying the words "Matt Dillon, US Marshall".

            

In 1990 Tricia and David moved churches, first to Wilmslow URC, then to Hale URC which became part of the present Altrincham URC.  Because Tricia's hand had been badly crushed on holiday in Germany her organ playing days were over but, instead, she concentrated on serving God by supporting the Choir.

            

After retirement from MRI Tricia pursued her interests in patchwork and quilting, taking a course at Rease Heath College. The people she met whilst pursuing her hobby were a real source of joy to her.  Until her sudden death on 4 December 2009 Tricia had been making Christmas gifts in bedroom 3 which had metamorphosed into sewing room 1, with David becoming concerned that his study may well become sewing room 2 as Tricia made quilts for sick children.

            

Tricia was a very lovely, honest person, and a good listener who never refused to help anyone who had a problem.

            

The aim of this charity, set up in her name, is to continue the work she did so quietly in the relief of poverty wherever that is situated.