Audrey Mosey, (right, pictured with her husband) died in January last year aged 91. Photo / Supplied
Audrey Mosey, (right, pictured with her husband) died in January last year aged 91. Photo / Supplied
To villagers, she was the little old lady who sang her opera favourites as she fed the birds.
The only extravagances Audrey Mosey had were roast dinners at the local pub.
And when she died in January last year at the age of 91 only about ten people attended herfuneral. But yesterday the entire East Yorkshire village of Cottingham was toasting her memory after she was revealed as a secret millionaire who left her £1.3million (NZ$2.6million) fortune to the community.
Miss Mosey – who didn't have children – lived most of her life in Cottingham, on the outskirts of Hull, and thousands of villagers and organisations will now be able to get grants of up to £10,000 (NZ$20,000) from a fund in her name.
The cash will go to performing arts groups, young talent, schools, charities and social enterprises.
Miss Mosey was known as a generous but frugal woman, with a love of the arts, and the money will be spent with her interests and character in mind.
Friends said as a young girl Audrey dreamed of going on the stage and had a passion for dance. But at 5ft 6in tall, she was not quite tall enough to be a ballet star.
Audrey Mosey from Cottingham, East Yorkshire, died on January 6 last year at the age of 91. Photo / Supplied
Instead she started training her voice and had ambitions to become a professional singer.
But her career plans were sidelined when she met Ken Bedford, the love of her life, in 1947.
Unusually for the time they never married but were together for 60 years and inseparable. Mr Bedford inherited a small property portfolio in East Yorkshire from his mother, which he and Miss Mosey looked after jointly.
They travelled in Europe and Miss Mosey indulged her other performing passion...ballroom dancing. The couple also had a property in Spain and when they were younger knew how to enjoy life.
Family friend Barbara Oglesby, 86, said: "Ken was the love or her life. She said when Ken was a young man the family had servants and he owned a number of houses he rented out.
"Ken was always popping down to the village with his cotton shopping bag and coming back with a chicken from the Co-op for tea and a bottle of wine.
Audrey had been with her partner Ken Bedford (pictured together) for 60 years and the couple had amassed a substantial property portfolio. Photo / Supplied
"She would feed the birds in the back garden every morning while singing opera songs.
"She had a beautiful voice." Mr Bedford died in 2006 when he suffered a dizzy spell on the way back from the shops, fell and hit his head on the pavement. Miss Mosey was by then aged 80.
Friends said in recent years she splashed out on a fortnightly trip to the village hairdressers and roast dinners twice a week at the King William Pub. Commenting on the wealth revealed after her death, Mrs Oglesby said: "We had no idea she had this kind of money. It is so like her to leave it to the village. She was always so generous to others – and so jolly."
Her home for about 40 years was a modest £107,000 (NZ$215,000) end-of-terrace property, which she eventually had to leave to go into care shortly before her death.
Although not particularly well known in life, due to the new fund she has become a famous Cottingham resident in death.
