Fundraising appeal for Ann Walker memorial hits goal in 24 hours and has support from across the globe

In 1854 Ann Walker, who was Anne Lister’s partner and featured in the BBC’s Gentleman Jack series written by Sally Wainwright, was buried under the old St Matthew’s Church in Lightcliffe in the family vault with her aunts.

When the church was demolished in the 1970s there was no indication of exactly where this vault was.

Each year many visitors go to the churchyard in Lightcliffe to see where she was buried.

To help them the Friends of St Matthew’s Churchyard placed a small marker stone above where the Walker vault was.

Recently permission was granted for a simple ledger stone to be placed over the vault where she and her aunts were buried. Their names and dates will be engraved on a slab of Yorkshire stone.

The estimate for this is about £2,700.

An appeal was launched last week and within less than 24 hours the money was raised.

Donations came from all over the world as well as locally.

Ian Philp, chair of the Friends of St Matthew’s Churchyard, said how delighted he was that permission had been granted by the Leeds Diocese for this memorial and that the money had been raised so quickly.

He went on to thank everyone involved including Rev Kathryn Buck, the Vicar of St Matthew’s Church Lightcliffe, Calderdale Council’s Bereavement Service and the many supporters of the project.

The Friends of St Matthew’s Churchyard are hopeful it will be in place later in the summer.