An Ode to Agie
I remember meeting Agnes [Agie] Bailey
in the late 1960's when she came into our garage looking to borrow,
of all things, a crow-bar!
This was an old lady, looking older
than her years, because of the hard life she had lead, dressed in old
cloths, tramp like, with a beret on her head cocked to the side and a
cigarette hanging from the side of her mouth as she spoke in a
roughYorkshire accent.
Who would have known that she had been
an accomplished pianist and violinist in her younger days, giving concerts and
lessons to children.
She had for many years run the family
business as a Monumental Mason from a yard next to the Utley Cemetery
in Keighley.
She was well known locally, and took up
running the business single-handed, after other family members passed
away, and being a skillful Sculptress, who as well as being able to cut the words into a gravestone was able to carve Angels and other figures required.
Agie also liked a drink and the bar staff at the local pub, The Roebuck, tell the stories of her comming in and ordering four pints at last orders, and then drinking them all before chucking out time!....and then getting in her van and driving the short distance home!
She was also well known for going
through the local newspaper's obituaries and then going knocking on
the bereaved families door to try and sell them a gravestone!
Stories of her on particular day
walking around Keighley, dressed in a really smart red trouser suit,
pill box hat and matching scarf and handbag, and telling observers,
who did not recognise her, that she was off to t' “Paris Fashions”
and would be staying with the daughter of a local industrialist
whilst there.
She died in November 1981, age 70 yrs
and when the piece of land that had been the site of her masonry
business was developed into a small housing estate, it was named
“Bailey Close”, a reminder of this local character.
Here are my respectful thought about
her.
January 2023
 |
| Utley Cemetery.....possibly some of
Agies handy work? |
Who's the
dishevelled figure shuffling along
Making her
regular journey daily
A sad and
lonely woman passing by
This solitary
person, Agnes Bailey
This well
known lady,long departed
Gone nearly
fifty or more
Yet her legend
still lives on locally
As we still
talk about her fondly
Weary old
cloths and side cocked beret
And the cig
from the side of her mouth
We would guess
the secrets of her life
As she wanders
past on her way out
Those hands,
gnarled and worn
Like hands of
a working man
From years of
chiselling gravestones
As she climbs
back in her van
Who'd have
realise that she had a talent
An
accomplished violinist when younger
Giving
concerts and teaching children
A practice not
used any longer
Long live Agie
in our History
As her ghost
wanders Utley Cemetery
That long lost
wandering soul
Still
remembered in our memory
