Funeral date set for Valerie Goode, one of the original members of Newmarket Town Council

The funeral of a former Newmarket town councillor will be held later this month.

Valerie Goode lived on the town’s Scaltback estate when she became one of the original members of the council when it was formed in 1999.

She was a councillor for two years before standing down to care for her elderly parents.

She was a member of the Newmarket in Bloom committee and Newmarket Allotment Association.

She also ran exercise sessions at Newmarket Day Centre and was a volunteer with the Soham branch of St John Ambulance, as well as being a regular volunteer at the Crucial Crew week organised by Suffolk Police for primary school children and held at Mildenhall Stadium.

Mrs Goode’s work as a massage therapist also brought her clients from the horse-racing industry, including a leading trainer who asked her to work her magic on one of his horses.

She moved to the Ipswich area in 2011 when her husband, journalist John Goode, who worked as a reporter for the Cambridge Evening News when it had an office in Newmarket’s Rous Road, took early retirement.

He said: “She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother who cared for every living thing.”

Mrs Goode died in Ipswich Hospital on May 13 after her health deteriorated. She was 87.

Her funeral and celebration of life will be held at Waveney Memorial Park and Crematorium, Beccles, at noon on June 18 followed by burial at Gunton Woodland Burial Park.

Flowers or donations to St Elizabeth Hospice, Ipswich, and the Butterfly Volunteers at Ipswich Hospital may be sent to Critoph & Crowe funeral directors 49-55 Lorne Park Road, Lowestoft NR33 0RB.