Tributes paid to much-loved Ludlow legend after death aged 91

Muriel Alice Curry, who also went by the name of Muriel Harvey, played a large role in multiple aspects of Ludlow life, from running Bodenhams clothes shop to leading the summer arts and drama festival at the height of its nationally-renowned popularity.

She was also widely praised for her heroic response after being raped, as she went on to speak publicly about the ordeal and to encourage other victims not to be ashamed over what they had faced.

A memorial service will be held at the parish church of St Laurence's in Ludlow at 2pm on January 6, where tributes will be paid to a community spirited woman, described as a formidable force in the south Shropshire town.

Her son Roger Curry, who now runs Bodenham's as the fifth generation of the family to do so since it was founded in 1860, said: "She was a big community lady, she had a lot to do with a lot of things in Ludlow."

He said she was born in 1925 and was the fourth generation of the Bodenham family to be involved with the business, though had moved away from Shropshire and married his father Peter Curry at the end of the Second World War.

He said: "She returned to Ludlow from South Wales about 50 years ago when my grandfather was running the business and took over a few years later."

After his father died she remarried but her new husband Bert Harvey also passed away, not long after their wedding.

"After that she threw herself into community life," he said.

"She was a governor of three schools, she was a Justice of the Peace, and she started out catering with the Ludlow Festival, and slowly worked her way up the ranks to become chairwoman of it for many years."

She was also chairwoman of Ludlow Chamber of Commerce and a church warden at the Church of St Laurence for 15 years, he said.

It was while she was a church warden, by then in her 60s, that she was raped while on her way home from Midnight Mass at St Laurence's early on Christmas Day in 1992, an attack which stunned the town.

But her response to the attack was one of "heroism", her son said, as she decided to speak out about her experience and how women should not feel ashamed or embarrassed about their ordeals.

"For a while she became a key speaker about the subject, featuring on various national television shows," Mr Curry said.

"She was determined never to become a victim," adding she always had a bold attitude to life.

"If anybody ever said to her 'take care', she would reply 'take chances!'. She was a really down to earth lady in the way she approached life and people liked her for that.

"She didn't bear grudges, she was very matter-of-fact and very much of the opinion that in a small community we all had to get on, and get on with it.

"She was never troubled by situations, and she was very gallant," he added.