BETTY Mee, who lived almost her entire life in the same pair of semis in Otley Road, Skipton, has died aged 91.

Miss Mee, whose funeral service took place at Waltonwrays in Skipton, on Tuesday, March 14, was until her retirement a manager for social services.

She arrived in Otley Road as a small girl with her father, Charles, who had owned a butchers in the famous Shambles in York, where she was born. They moved to the next door semi in about 1950.

Betty lost her mother when young and she was brought up by her mother's sister who married her father.

She had a deep fondness for her adoptive town and was for a number of years a member of Skipton Little Theatre later in life joining the Soroptimists and a number of other Skipton groups, including Bookmen and Gallerygoers.

In her will she left bequests to some 50 organisations in Skipton including Craven Cassette talking newspaper and the Swadford Street Centre which she had frequented.

Betty had a keen intellect, was well read enjoying cinema, theatre and the arts. From her youth she travelled extensively, especially throughout Europe. And later there were not many stately homes or historical buildings she had not visited on her frequent tours of the UK.

Her neighbour for almost 40 years, Krystina White said: "Betty was a very bright woman who had recollections and knowledge of so much.

"She loved literature and enjoyed talking about books and the arts with my husband Clive over the garden fence.

"But she was also a private person who was quite happy in her own company. We will miss her small wave and tentative smile as she drew back her kitchen curtains in the morning."

Betty suffered tragedy in her early 50s when her fiance, Robert - Bobby- Horner, and her father died within two years of each other in the early 1970s.