Thank you to all who came to the service to give thanks for Hilary for her ministry and friendship. We had a wonderful service, guided by Hilary’s wishes. Thank you to all who provided refreshments – the generous tea and talk afterwards was lovely, as we talked together of our own memories of Hilary.

Rev’d Hilary Geisow

I am writing this thinking about how we never quite know what is going to happen next.
Although in ministry I am often with people who are dealing with changes in their lives, who
are trying to cope when the landscape of the future suddenly changes leaving them feeling
shocked and disorientated, I sometimes forget it can happen to me too.

We have been through that start of the new year with all the promise it holds, I am not one
who makes new year resolutions, but I am someone who thinks that now the business of
Christmas is over, and the decorations are down, in the quiet of January it is a time to get
straight and to be organised for the months ahead.

That is how January has been, although I have been aware of many people who have been
poorly over the Christmas period, and many families who have lost someone through a
variety of reasons in our villages.

I knew it was time to write this piece for the Village Link, which is a regular reminder of how
vibrant our little village is. But then, the landscape of the Ness Group changed, shockingly
and very sadly, because on the 15 th January Rev’d Hilary Geisow died.

Now for those of you who may not go to church you may be wondering who that is, but for
the people who go to any of the Ness Group Churches, Hilary has been a part of our church
family for almost as long as I have.

Hilary had retired and moved to Bourne and soon after I arrived she came to see me and
offered to help out a bit, ‘if I would like that’. Hilary has more than just helped, she has
been an integral part of our ministry team, taking services in all three churches, but doing so
much more than that. She was able to remember a huge amount about people who would
share all their concerns with her, she loved being creative with our services planning
beautiful interactive services in Holy week, thinking about how we could share God’s love in
a variety of ways, whether through making jam, pancake parties or baking scones and
sharing them over a cup of tea.

Hilary had been ill for a little over a year and knew she wouldn’t recover but she spent her
time caring for others because she said ‘as long as she was being treated, it meant she was
worth treating’. A year on and she was planning how we could help people talk about death,
how we could provide something that the younger people moving into the village might find
helpful.

Hilary had a practical faith and as someone who has served God for so much of her life, we
know that she will be at peace and that she will be going on to live the eternal life with a
loving God that she spoke to so many people about.

Hilary had a huge depth of wisdom, a quiet dry sense of humour and was a valued friend
and colleague. The landscape of the Ness Group has changed, my landscape has changed
and both will be the poorer without Hilary in it