Villagers and friends and associates from further afield gathered to pay tribute to a flamboyant woman who made a big impact on Tavistock high street.

Peter Tavy Hall was open all afternoon on Monday last week (June 9) to share memories of Mary Thompson, who died in May aged 89.

Mary’s daughter Sarah Cornish, of Horrabridge, said: “I was really touched that so many people came to the hall in what would have been Mum’s ninetieth birthday to celebrate her long and varied life. It was heartwarming to see so many people.

“Mum was a larger-than-life character who touched so many lives. She didn’t care what people thought about her and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. But she was loved and respected by so many, as we saw at the tribute.”

Mary was a big presence, both by force of personality and through her multiple trading ventures on Tavistock high street.

Most famously these include opening up the popular Village Shopping Arcade on the site of what is now the Edinburgh Woollen Mill. The arcade was a good way of supporting small start-up businesses. A keen horse rider, she also ran a saddlery repair business and dolls house repairs.

She had always wanted to be a shopkeeper and set up shop on Russell Street and Brook Street while still bringing up three children.

She was also known for her artistic and creative skills and ran an arts and crafts shop called Pennywise, selling her own creations as well as creating costumes for various local historical theatrical productions.

The memorial event was organised by one of her two daughters, Sarah Cornish and her son Peter Thompson who each read a eulogy.

The event started with a prayer by the Rev Hazel Butland, then a poem was read about ‘not growing old gracefully’ by Jenny Joseph, which reflected her mum, said Sarah.

Guests then shared food and listened to live singer Mike Huber, who performs at Spring House Nursing Home in Peter Tavy. Donations taken at the tribute event will go to Spring House Residential Care Home in Peter Tavy, where Mary lived in her last years, to provide extras like days out for the residents.

Sarah said her mum would have been “cross to miss her funeral, because there was nothing she liked more than clinking glasses with friends”.

Mary even persuaded her children to organise a funeral service, complete with old photos, at the Bedford Hotel, on her eightieth birthday – “so she didn’t miss her own funeral” said Sarah.

“She was that kind of person, a freethinker who was broad-minded – she loved Tavistock Pride Festival, for instance. In the end, the early funeral service worked out well because she ended up meeting lots of old friends who have since left us.”

Mary could not stop the march of progress and in the end her arcade was sold and demolished.

However, one legacy is the highly successful Tavistock Dickensian Evening. She is believed to have been behind the earliest events, as an influential member of the town’s chamber of commerce.

Latterly she might be remembered for giving rides to children on her mobility scooter in the skatepark area of the town’s Meadows park as her pet dogs ran around.