LYMM has lost one of its most loved and inspiring community figures following the sudden death of Su Williams MBE at her family home in the early hours of Friday morning.
For decades, Su Williams was at the heart of village life — the driving force behind countless projects, charities and community events that have helped shape Lymm and touched thousands of lives.
“Everyone knows Su Williams” became something of a family joke in the Williams household. Each month, when Lymm Life landed on the doormat, the family would flick through the pages to find out which of Su’s good causes, new ventures or community initiatives had made the magazine. Editions without her photograph were considered collector’s items.
And even if you did not know Su personally, the chances are she still impacted your life in some way.
Foodfest, now one of Lymm’s most popular annual events, began as Su’s idea. True to form, she did not simply suggest it to a committee and step away — she rolled up her sleeves and made it happen, encouraging traders, running the event and helping it to grow year on year. At the very same time, she was opening her own garden to more than 1,000 visitors in a week for “Art in the Garden”, also using the event to support charities providing art therapy for disabled people. There were displays of pottery too, created by inmates from Risley Prison, where Su had spent 15 years working part-time as a teacher. Another lasting legacy was the monthly foodbank collection at The Cross, which Su helped establish nearly 15 years ago and which continues to support local families today.
Su and her husband Alan moved to Lymm in 1993 with their 10-year-old daughter Eve after Su took early retirement from teaching at Flixton Girls School, where she herself had once been a pupil. Retirement, however, was never likely to mean slowing down.
When Eve started at Lymm High School, Su quickly became involved in organising the school summer fair via the PTA , helping raise funds for much-needed equipment. Later, when her grandchildren attended Little Foxes nursery, Su and Alan’s garden became the destination for the annual “Toddle Waddle” picnic event. When the children moved on to Statham Primary School, Su volunteered as a reading listener, created a lunchtime gardening club and even made Victorian costumes for an entire class visiting the Heritage Centre during Transport Day celebrations.
The Heritage Centre itself owed much to Su’s vision and determination. Alan helped bring the idea to life, but it was Su’s initial enthusiasm and belief that inspired the project in the first place. The same could be said of Lymm Transport Day. Although her husband Alan founded and organised the hugely successful event for nine years, Su was undoubtedly the role model and inspiration for the “work hard, and you’ll make it happen” approach.
There’s that word again – inspiring. Again and again, people have spoken of how “Su inspired me” or “Su changed my life” — many of these people are now filling important career roles supporting the wider community and fulfilling themselves beyond their expectations.
Yet despite all she achieved, friends describe Su as one of the most grounded and caring people they have ever met. She was never interested in status or strategy meetings. Su believed in practical action.When the future of the Youth and Community Centre was under threat, she joined the campaign to save it and ran a Sunday afternoon coffee shop there, baking cakes herself while talking to visitors about the importance of the Centre to village life. She also helped establish the monthly Senior Social there, which continues to bring older residents together today.
Lymm in Bloom was another project Su nurtured from its earliest days. When a young man named Ben Selwood first posted a notice looking for volunteers, it was Su who responded first, encouraging him and helping the initiative flourish. She remained an active volunteer for many years.
Her compassion extended especially to individuals facing hardship or disadvantage. In the mid-1990s, when Lymm’s first Big Issue seller arrived in the village, Su welcomed him in her home, helped him find work and accommodation, made curtains for his home and supported him in rebuilding his confidence and self-respect.
While Su may never have considered any of her work extraordinary, others certainly did. Over the years, she received two Warrington community awards, recognition from the Butler Trust and an Anne Frank Award for her work in prison education. Then, in 2019, came perhaps the greatest public recognition of all: an MBE. By then, Su had successfully battled bowel cancer, but had also received a diagnosis of dementia.
When the official letter arrived inviting her to Windsor Castle to receive the honour from the Queen, her first reaction perfectly captured her down-to-earth approach.
“Blimey, that’s a bit awkward to get to. Couldn’t they just send it?”
In the end of course, she attended. Thrilled to meet the Queen and promptly forgetting royal etiquette by warmly shaking Her Majesty’s hand with both of hers while declaring: “I think you look fantastic for your age!”
As the years passed, dementia gradually forced Su to step back from many of the activities she loved. But the projects she started continued to grow and thrive, enriching life across Lymm. Even as her illness progressed and communication became increasingly difficult, her instinct to help others never faded. On the final day of her life, aged 83, and eight years into her dementia journey, she was still volunteering at the Heritage Centre — setting up the exhibition room with husband Alan, emptying bins and sweeping outside before heading for coffee at the Community Centre she had helped save years earlier.
A few years ago, friends from Lymm were travelling by ferry from Mull to the remote island of Iona in Scotland. On board, they fell into conversation with the island postwoman who asked where they were from. When they told her, she smiled and asked:
“Oh, so do you know Su Williams?”.. True!
Su and Alan Williams were together for almost fifty years and married for all but the first five, raising three children who, in turn, gave them six beautiful grandchildren. At the same time, being Su, the family also provided occasional overnight respite care for more than 15 years to a boy with special needs.
Her death leaves an enormous void, not only for her family and friends but across the whole community into which she poured her boundless energy. She leaves with a remarkable legacy of kindness, inspiration, and practical action for the greater good. So even though you may never have had the good fortune to meet her, Su has almost certainly touched your life for the better.
