Tributes have been paid to the 'kind and caring’ Stretford mum who lit up her neighbourhood every Christmas.
Mary McClure, known affectionately as ‘Mrs Christmas’, sadly passed away on November 30 after a long battle with cancer.
The 82-year-old Manchester United fan was well loved in her community and lived a stone's throw from the stadium.
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She was famous for her dazzling Christmas lights that she put up every year on Railway Road, Stretford, for 40 years.
Mary’s daughter said Jacqueline said her mother put up the lights because of her love for Christmas and they became a staple among match going United fans who passed her home on their way to a game.
Jacqueline told the M.E.N: “Once my mum put her lights up, Stretford put their lights up.
“All the football fans used to call her Mrs Christmas, my mum used to work at the United ground as well and she was a season ticket holder for 30 years, but she had to relinquish them after she got poorly.”
A former care worker of 20 years in Stretford, Mary is originally from Killyleagh in County Down, Northern Ireland.
As one of seven sisters, she came to Manchester to work in the mills when she settled down with her husband Fred and lived in their now famous Stretford home for 46 years.
Jacqueline says her mother was a ‘giving’ woman who believed strongly in family values and cared deeply for her community using her Christmas lights to raise money for local charities.
She said “She’s been putting the lights up for 40 years and has raised hundreds and thousands of pounds over the years for charities.
“She just loved Christmas. She’s Roman Catholic and thinks Christmas is the time to give joy, she loved when people stopped and admired them and the joy it brought.
“She did it to bring happiness.
“I’ve been extremely poorly and my mum looked after me all my life, she’s done everything for her children,
“My sister passed a way 10 years ago, and she looked after her three daughters, her grandchildren, one of them still lives here.
“She helped them buy houses for themselves. She’s just been the best, you couldn’t fault her..
“The house was always busy, people came in and out, if you came to the door and you needed anything she would help, there was no end to her giving.
“We’re all built in her image, loving, caring and strong.”
Since announcing the news, Jacqueline says the family have been left overwhelmed by the kind messages from locals who knew her mother.
She said: “It’s been overwhelming, my dad was in floods of tears.
“It’s a great community, you forget that people that there are people out there and want to leave a comment that is kind.”
Mary leaves behind her husband of 62 years Fred McClure, her daughter Jacqueline and her three granddaughters.
