Mary Hill

Who else remembers Mary Hill, the lady who used to hit people with her bags. If you saw her coming towards you, you had to cross over the road or get a whack from her shopping bag.

I do, vaguely, and I'm told we got on very well together. She always referred to me by the name I only ever used in school which suggests I went to school with her daughter but I don't remember any girl at St Mary's with that surname.

Yes, she was known as MAD MARY and I believe she lived in one of the terraces in Swanswell Street.

Hello Norm. Yes I remember Mary Hill very well, my mother-in-law knew her quite well, long before she became a bit unhinged (due to the dreaded booze, I think). We knew her as Scots Mary. She was a bit of a character, that's for sure. I was working at the Coventry Police Station, Little Park Street, I had some work to do in the Control Room at the time (I was a telephone engineer). On the way back from lunch I passed the Turks Head pub and, stuck in a traffic jam, I was aware of an argument on the steps of the pub between the landlord and Scots Mary - he threw her out. She was giving him a load of abuse, she asked for her coat so she could go home (lol), anyway he threw her the coat then she reached into the pocket, pulled out a metal comb and attempted to stab the boss. After returning to the Police HQ I settled down to complete my job, then all hell broke loose. "They are bringing in Scots Mary", the shout went out. All staff ran to the windows to see her being removed from the van, kissing and cuddling the female officers (a ritual for the new wpcs), anyway they all treated her with warm affection. Have to say, in her early days she was a real nice lady. All the best. Colin

Did Scots Mary move to Stoke Aldermoor? She was well known by all the council painters, lol, and a few more!!!!!

She moved to Wood End in the 70s.

Thanks Bernie, until the name Scots Mary came up I had totally forgotten about her. There were a few ladies known around Coventry for their UNUSUAL behaviour but for the life of me I cannot remember the names, or areas they lived in, although I know there was another lady who lived in Stoke Aldermoor.

You don't mean Hyacinth Bucket's sister Rose, do you?

Lol, That was Binley, loved the series at the time. The houses used to belong to the Binley pit. The council bought the lot and I had the pleasure of painting a few of them in 1969. Now the argument will rage that it is Willenhall.

Beg to differ, but Mitchell Close, where Rose lived with Daisy and Onslow, is in Stoke Aldermoor

Quite right, Midland Red, I remember the old scrap yard at the end of Mitchell Close. I believe it is now a nature reserve and its entrance was in Carter Road. I think Hyacinth's house was filmed in Binley Woods.

I ADMIT DEFEAT, AAAAARRRGHHHHHH

I remember Mary Hill from my schooldays. Although we had no idea who she was, my father would read out, almost every week in the Coventry Evening Telegraph, a short article about "Mary Hill fined £5 for being drunk and disorderly", much to my and my mother's amusement. In later years she would occasionally be seen walking along, say, the Foleshill Road. An aunt who lived there had known her from days of yore, and told me "let's just say she's an old courtesan"; (not the exact word my aunt used). I can remember that she always seemed to wear ridiculously short skirts (Mary Hill, that is, not my aunt). I think the drink had, over time, taken its toll to the point where a person no longer cares what people think. Two examples come to mind. A retired cleaner had once worked at the Coventry and Warwickshire, and told me that one day she was cleaning the floor in the waiting area of the A&E. Mary Hill was there and quite unashamedly stood and relieved herself into the cleaner's bucket in front of the shocked crowd, who pretended nothing had happened. Another colleague, long since retired, recalled the day she took her very young grandson and granddaughter to Swanswell Park to see the swans. She was not best pleased when Mary Hill, approaching them, suddenly stopped and did a repeat performance in front of her grandchildren.