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Dozens attend funeral of formerly homeless woman

Hollygate Lodge Care Home Ann Hillman, a 72 year old woman wearing a rain coat. she has grey hair, and is sitting on a yellow coloured seat. Hollygate Lodge Care Home
Ann Hillman was 72 when she died

Dozens of people gathered at Roselawn Cemetery for the committal service of a formerly homeless lady who died without any known relatives.

Ann Hillman lived in the Cathedral Quarter in central Belfast for a number of years, before being moved by police in 2018 to Moat Park in Dundonald, where she slept under a tree.

Described as a "quiet and discreet" character, she spent her final years in Hollygate Lodge Care Home in Carryduff.

Mourners who had never met her attended the funeral after the care home staff issued an appeal.

"Anne's story was complex, broken and something of a mystery to almost all of us here" said the Reverend Steve Ames, who conducted the service.

"To many people, Ann was nobody. Just another invisible statistic of homelessness.

"Today, she is every one of the 55,000 souls in Northern Ireland who have no place to call home.

"Today, she is every life that didn't go according to plan, every powerless person on the margins struggling to find a way in".

Six ladies pose for a photo holding funeral flowers, and the orders of service from the funeral of Ann Hillman. They are all wearing black or grey raincoats.
Staff from Hollygate Lodge Care Home said Ann was a quiet and discreet character
A note on red funeral flowers reads "Love everyone at Hollygate Lodge xxx"
Dozens attended the service

As people left, the care home staff huddled around the exit sharing stories of their time looking after Ms Hillman.

"We wouldn't ask too much about her being homeless but we'd sometimes ask her about her life, and she wouldn't say much" said Claire McKechnie.

They told BBC News NI Ms Hillman used to sleep in her chair, a legacy of years spent propped against a wall, and later a tree in Moat Park.

"I got her into bed once and she stayed there for a couple of hours" said Jane Singleton.

"I came back later and she was in the chair again and she just said 'I'm more comfortable here'."

Alan Lewis Ann Hillman in a blue sleeping back sits against a tree sleeping. She is wearing a dark coat with the hood up, and a stripped wooly hat. Alan Lewis
Ann Hillman called Moat Park home for years

The Hollygate carers said Ms Hillman loved Christmas and would play festive music all year round.

They said it was important to mark that, especially given the time of year.

Inside the order of service were the lyrics of The Pogus classic Fairytale of New York.

One attendee, Mark, said it was a "poignant reminder that Christmas isn't always a great time for everyone".

Ms Hillman hit the headlines in 2018 when authorities in Belfast moved her on from Cathedral Quarter ahead of that year's Culture Night.

She then stayed in Moat Park until the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.