A CENTENARIAN who dedicated her life to caring for homeless animals and who inspired a character from a James Herriot novel has died, aged 101.

Ann Lilly, known affectionately locally as Sister Lilly, was one of the first female radiographers in the north, and lived in Brompton, Northallerton, before moving to Mount Vale Nursing Home, in Northallerton, before she died peacefully on September 30.

Her funeral was at St Thomas’ Church, in Brompton, on Tuesday, October 14, which included a collection for the Sister Lilly Animal Foundation Trust and church funds.

Originally from Stockton, she trained as a radiographer after qualifying as a nurse, at a time when little was known about the value of X-rays.

She went on to help set up the Middlesbrough and District School of Radiography with Dr William Irwin, transferring to the Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, when the RAF departed in the 1950s to carry on the work.

Last year she won an Animal Hero Award for the work she has done in helping re-home pets in North Yorkshire, and her passion for helping animals meant she became heavily involved in setting up the Jerry Green Centre for cats and dogs at Catton, near Thirsk.

Sister Lilly celebrated her 100th birthday in January last year at the Golden Lion Hotel, Northallerton, which was attended by more than 200 guests.

She also featured in the world-famous James Herriot novels as Sister Rose, a nurse who helped abandoned animals. Author Alf Wight, who wrote the Herriot novels, opened the Jerry Green Centre.

Peggy Dornom, trustee on the board of Jerry Green Dog Rescue and long-standing friend of Sister Lilly, said: “Jerry Green Dog Rescue has enjoyed a very long association with Sister Lilly going back over 50 years.

“As soon as she heard that Jerry Green Dog Rescue was spending so much money on the re-homing of dogs, she thought it was a bandwagon she could jump on to help her with her dogs in Yorkshire.”

“We struck up a strong friendship and when Jerry Green Dog Rescue was financially able to build a second sanctuary, it was decided it was to be in Yorkshire and Dr Rob, a friend of Sister Lilly’s, sold three acres of land to us at a very advantageous price.

“This association has stood the test of time and when Jerry Green died in 1968, the friendship continued until Sister Lilly’s death.”