Tributes have been paid to a former Wilmslow shop owner and aeroplane wing walker who became a star of the circus.
Chrissie Mayo, formerly of Alderley Edge, hit the headlines as a stunt girl in the flying circus before going on to launch her own chain of gift shops.
She died in July aged 64, after fighting a four-year battle with cancer.
Her husband has spoken of his pride at her remarkable life.
Bob Mayo, 73, said: “She’s had an incredible life.
“The best thing about her was she was so independent and ambitious.
“She was so caring as well and loved other people.
“I think that’s what attracted her to the circus – that she could spend time with other people and entertain them.”
Chrissie, originally from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was working as a librarian in Manchester when she met ex-husband Graham Tyson.
He introduced her to the Barnstormers Flying Circus where he starred as ‘Colonel Crackshot’.
She initially joined the circus as a ‘target girl’ but went on to do wing walking displays and perform as a clown.
The couple, who lived in Alderley Edge, featured on the front page of our sister paper the Manchester Evening News in July 1976 when Graham proposed to her by flying a banner with the words ‘Chrissie Will You Marry Me’ behind his Tiger Moth plane.
They wed a year later.
Chrissie was once involved in a serious parachute accident after crashing into high-voltage electricity wires. She spent months in a wheelchair and was honoured with an award for her bravery by the circus.
During her recovery, she and Graham started up the Flying Machine chain of arts and crafts shops.
Beginning on Wilbraham Road in Chorlton, they also opened the flagship store on Grove Street, Wilmslow, selling quirky memorabilia inspired by the circus.
The shops were famous for their extravagant window displays and Harrods-style doormen in full livery who greeted customers.
Graham, 50, who lives in Broken Cross, Macclesfield, said: “She was just so creative and talented. It took a lot of courage to do what she did.
“But the circus just suited her and she took that into the shops which were really popular.”
In the mid-1980s she separated from Graham and moved to Kirkby Lonsdale in Lancashire, where she was eventually re-united with Bob. The pair had a fleeting relationship 25 years earlier in Newcastle and in a plot fitting of a romantic film, Bob went looking for her after the breakdown of his own marriage.
He found her in 1996 and they began living together. They married in 2008 in Cumbria.
Bob said: “It was the best decision I ever made.”
Graham said: “I’m glad they ended up together, it think it was always destined to be.”
In 2006 Chrissie was diagnosed with a rare form of stomach cancer. But, undaunted, while undergoing chemotherapy she studied for a degree in fine art at Cumbria University and graduated with 2:1 honours just months before her death.
Bob said: “I was so proud of her. It just typifies the type of person she was.”
About 100 people attended a memorial service in July.
