STAUNCH supporter of all things St Helens, Anne Joy Fleming Cummings has died at the age of 90.

Mrs Cummings spent most of her life living at Fakenham Cottage, served on the parish council for a couple of decades and was heavily involved in St Helens Church throughout her life.

She was born Anne Birks in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in 1927, and moved with her family to the cottage in St Helens when she was four years old.

She became an occupational therapist and was a keen sailor. Her dinghy Heather was well-known within the dinghy classes in the 1950s and 1960s when Anne was a member of Brading Haven Yacht Club.

She married David Haig at St Helens Church in 1954 but the couple met with tragedy just six months later when they were involved in a car crash while in Henley. David died, and Anne lost the unborn child she was carrying.

Years later, in 1969, she married her second husband, John Joseph Cummings, at St Helens Church, and the couple had a son, David.

Anne was a dedicated parishioner at the church and with her mother Julianna Birks, supported the British Red Cross.

John died in 2001 and Anne left her beloved cottage in 2010 to move to Inver House, moving on to Kite Hill Nursing Home in 2013. The cottage is still in the family.

Anne leaves her son David, and grandchildren Aisha, William and Charlotte.

A funeral service will take place at St Helens Church today (27) at 2pm. Everyone welcome.