A LEDBURY lady who once served tea to the composer Benjamin Britten has died, aged 104, after a lifetime of remarkable memories.

Emily Phelps, formerly Grimes, always said that age was just a number, when she was looking back.

She passed away peacefully on Sunday, March 15 at Hereford County Hospital.

On the occasion of her 100 birthday, she was interviewed by the Reporter and recalled:"When I was 19, I went to London, and stayed with my sister Violet. I worked at the Royal College of Music, right by the Albert Hall."

There she waited on the professors, and met such giants of the world of British music as Sir Thomas Beecham, the great conductor, who founded the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras, and Benjamin Britten, composer of Peter Grimes and many other famous works.

Mrs Phelps added: "I had a uniform like the Lyons girls in the tea shops, and all the great professors were perfect gentlemen, although they would tease me and always say that they would take me out for a meal."

It was at the Royal College of Music she met her first husband, Reginald Grimes, who was a well-respected pianist and librarian at the college, and the couple were married in 1934.

Mr Grimes was a friend of Benjamin Britten and there may be a connection between the composer's opera and the friendship.

Mrs Phelps' grandson, Ian Robinson said: "It was rumoured that Peter Grimes was actually written for my granddad."

Mr Phelps, who would have turned 105 on May 1, was born at 17 Bridge Street, as one of 10 children, six boys and four girls.

She went to Ledbury Girls' School, which used to be in Church Street.

She left school at 13 and looked after the children of the Brewery Inn landlord, Frank James.

Then, before moving to London, Mrs Phelps went to work at the jam factory, owned by Ledbury Preserves, down Little Marcle Road.

Her stay in London was interrupted by the outbreak of World War Two, and she moved back to Ledbury.

For many years, Mrs Phelps ran the cinema that used to be at the bottom of Bank Crescent, a job she enjoyed.

Following the death of her first husband, she remarried late in life, to Percy Phelps, who passed away several years ago.

Her grandson, Ian Robinson said: "My grandmother, known to all as Emmie, holds a very special place in not only the hearts of her family but of the towns folk of her home town Ledbury as one of it’s oldest residents. A Mother of three: Denis, 79 Eveline 76 and James, deceased and Grandmother to five; John, Hayley, Ian, David, Samantha. Emmie lived in sheltered housing in Belle Orchard Close.

"Emmie was known for her sense of humour, at times flamboyant demeanour and amusing quips, as she glided along the streets with her very own chic dress sense. Instantly recognisable by her endearing smile and knitted brightly coloured caps.

"No quarter was ever given to sadness, misery or ill feeling as all were always overawed by Gran’s intoxicating light hearted outlook."

Mr Robinson added: "Her trademark attitude to life that ‘age is just a number’ was never more apparent than at over 90 years of age she declared that she still enjoyed cooking her famous apple pies ‘for the old folks'."

Mrs Phelps' funeral service will be held on Tuesday, March 31 at St Michael and All Angels Church, Ledbury at 2pm.