Nurse Mary Mary is a district nurse She travels round each day To see her patients, give them the care they need As she wends her merry way She has her trusty bicycle Which is nearly as old as she? But it lets her peddle for miles and miles So she is as fit as fit can be In her basket which fits upon the front She carries all she may need And she can be seen by every one Travelling around at her own speed There’s Mrs Maguire at Appleton Court A saintly woman of means But her health is not what it should be And when Mary calls her face just gleams To see someone so caring Who looks after all her needs? And to while away the time and make some tea And bring happiness, she always succeeds Old Mr Partridge at Apple Road Who lives alone now his wife has passed away Who is a miserable old so and so But who Mary still calls on every day She cooks and cleans but he still moans The world need’s putting to right He complains he needs more money from the state To pay for his television and his heat and light Saint Mary listens, but has problems of her own Which intermingles with her own woes? Being recently diagnosed with cancer But she feels that’s the way it goes So she must grin and bear it Still thinks of others before herself Has no one at home to turn to She is a spinster left on the shelf Married to her profession Always putting others first And as usual in life for caring people They always come off worst But Old Molly Catapult A name to conjure with its true Said it must have been a shot in the dark Because her family were a motley crew But Molly loved her garden Where flowers bloomed all year And Mary used to help her weed it They enjoyed doing it together never fear But as time went by Mary’s health became worse She began to get tired more quickly than before And when twilight time is near at hand She is glad just to get through her own front door But this particular morning she never arrived at all No smile for Mrs Maguire, or any of the others too Mrs Catapult felt so all alone She did not know what to do But she contacted the local policeman Who called to see if Mary was all right? And after breaking into her cottage Found she had passed away that night All her friends were saddened by the news Her patients most of all But they all knew how ill she was And the reaper would someday call And now in the memorial garden Just away up the road from the infant school They have erected a memorial garden With a Plaque and ornamental pool Because Mary was the person On whom all the village could rely And would be remembered by all that knew her And even those who passed it by The work that someone like Mary does Is sometimes never really appreciated to the fullest extent Until the day they are no longer there, then it becomes so evident