Clarissa Flint, who died peacefully on 17th July at Winter’s Park Care Home, aged 94, led a life that took her full circle from Penrith to London and North Yorkshire, and back again.
In 1934, her family – parents, Frank and Ada Martin, and brother Frank — moved from West Lane, Penrith, where Clarissa was born, to a new house at 16 Carleton Road, close to number 19 which was advertised then as Penrith’s first “Electric Exhibition House”, about which the Herald commented: “There are so many electric gadgets that one is left marvelling at what can be done without effort”.
Five years later, Clarissa’s father built a store room beneath the kitchen floor, to double up as a bomb shelter. They also had an Anderson Shelter in the garden, but this was soon filled with tools!
On the night of 14th March, 1941, however, there was a loud explosion and the windows rattled as the only bomb that dropped on Penrith exploded near the railway, close to Lowther Park. Clarissa’s father leapt out of bed shouting this was it, and they retreated to their kitchen shelter.
Unfortunately, the following morning was also Clarissa’s scholarship exam for Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, which she did not pass, and so her parents paid £4.10/- per term for her to attend.
As it was wartime, school facilities were shared with evacuees from Newcastle, as was Clarissa’s house, and children were taught part-time. This suited Clarissa and her friends, who played in Cowrake Quarry and the fields beyond Carleton Road, now covered with houses.
They also cycled to Pooley Bridge to be Swallows and Amazons, at the time when Arthur Ransome was writing his stories for children and each new book was eagerly awaited.
Clarissa chose nursing as a career and at the age of 17, and only 4’10” tall, she went to train at Edinburgh Sick Children’s Hospital, and then nursed at Aglionby Grange, near Carlisle, and Penrith Cottage Hospital.
This coincided with the inception of the NHS and with it, Clarissa recalled, new equipment but less inclination to control costs.
She met her future husband, John Flint — a pharmacist who opened the first pharmacy within the Co-op in Penrith — at a Masonic dance at the Crown Hotel.
After a whirlwind romance, they married and in 1952 headed for life in London, where John had found a position in the Department of Health. There they had two sons, Rod and Paul, who went on to join the Army and Royal Navy respectively, despite or because of Clarissa being a pacifist.
Clarissa worked variously as a GP’s receptionist, nurse and a “reablist”, the latter at the forefront of using art and crafts to stimulate elderly patients.
John’s retirement brought him and Clarissa back north, first to Wordsworth Street in Penrith and then to Little Salkeld and Portinscale, before moving to North Yorkshire to be near grandchildren.
Clarissa spent the final years of her life as a widow at 3 Barkhouse Close, Penrith, where she renewed friendships and made new ones, before moving into Winters Park during the Covid pandemic.
Clarissa really had come full circle. Barkhouse Close was built on land at the foot of the garden she had known as a girl at Carleton Road. Her father’s shed and apple trees were still there, over the wall.
Despite her diminutive size, Clarissa always stood up against bullies and spoke out against what she thought was wrong; she enjoyed deep discussions; and never wavered in her faith in Jesus.
She was convinced that Heaven is in the here and now and not something to aspire to after death. In other words, we should all make the most of what we have and live our lives well and to the full – as she herself did.
