Obituaries
Bedford High School for Girls
Susan Beardsworth (née Mace, formerly Miller, BHS 1954)
Sue sadly passed away in April 2023. She lived with her husband, Roger, in New Zealand. Sue enjoyed watercolour painting, patching and quilting.
Pamela (Pam) Phillips (née Bunker, BHS 1948)
Born in 1930, the daughter of Victor and Doris Bunker in Bow Brickhill. She passed away aged 91 in December 2021 in Fitchburg, Wisconsin.
Pam joined BHS as a boarder in 1943. She loved school and kept in touch with her Bedford friends. Pam went to The London School of Occupational Therapy, working as an occupational therapist in England and then in Middleton, USA, where she lived in the later years of her life. Pam was an accomplished artist; she enjoyed drawing and painting animals and country scenes. Mostly Pam just made people smile, she made instant friends with everyone. She is survived by her three children, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Pauline Burgess (former Junior School teacher, BHS 1995-2009)
Pauline sadly away in December 2022 after a short illness.
Sheila Cubitt (former member of staff BHS 1955 – 1976)
Sheila passed away in July 2022, aged 92 years. Sheila was born and grew up in Norwich, and along with her older sister, Heather, was educated at Norwich High School for Girls before Roehampton teacher training college. She joined the BHS Junior School in 1955. Always popular, Sheila really enjoyed Art and her form room was always a riot of colour. Her History lessons were often brought to life with creative friezes she had made. Sheila later joined the The Perse School for Girls, along her sister, Heather, who was Head of History in the Senior School.
Barbara Dalton (née Elphick, BHS 1946)
Barbara died in March 2022 aged 94 yrs. Barbara married Lieutenant Colonel Roy Dalton and during his career lived in many different countries before living in London. The couple had three children Michael, Mark and Catherine. Barbara returned to the BHS for a period in the 1980’s as a teacher of Classics.
Sheila Felce (BHS 1944)
Sheila passed away in July 2021. Sheila loved animals and her garden. She was well-known in the local community for running her own chiropody practice, working in the profession for 70 years.
Catherine Victoria ‘Vicky’ Frossell (née Boutwood, BHS 1957)
Vicky passed away in October 2022, aged 83 years. She was the beloved wife of the late Dennis and loving mum to James, Tom, Charlotte and Emily, as well as grandmother and friend to many.
Claire Harvey (née Aylett, BHS 1954)
Claire passed away in January 2022, aged 86 years. She was the beloved wife of Philip and mother of Ian, Neal, Colin and Lee.
Florence Johnson (née Collier, BHS 1954)
Florence died in October 2022, age 87. Sister of Patricia Farquhar (BHS 1960). She was proud of her school and remembered the dramatic productions by members of the BHS staff in the early 1950s, particularly Alice in Wonderland.
Nesta Kathleen Jones (former member of staff BHS 1943-1961)
Nesta passed away in December 2021, aged 104. Nesta began her schooling as a boarder at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, before going on to read Classics at Girton College, Cambridge. Nesta taught Classics at BHS from 1943-1961, and was then appointed Headmistress of The Kingsley School, Royal Leamington Spa in 1961-1977. Nesta will be remembered as a beloved Aunt and as an inspirational Latin teacher by her former students.
Clifton Ibbett, OBE
Clifton sadly died in May 2021. Clifton, a former Bedford School student (1953), ran the Bedfordia group. Clifton was instrumental in setting up and overseeing The Foundation in 2007, in memory of his daughters Anita (1982) and Julia (1984), with aim of generating a provision of funds for bursaries for Sixth Form students and capital projects. Clifton also established the Road Victims Trust, the Bedfordshire Daycare Hospice and care home, Anjulita Court.
Jill Knox (née Mackness, BHS 1958)
Died in May 2022, aged 82. Loved wife of Robert (Bob), sister of the late Robin, mother of Caroline, Patrick and Callum, and grandmother to Abby, Harry, Bella, Silas, Cameron, Athis and Findlay.
Liz Rawlinson (former member of staff c. BHS 1975-1984)
Liz passed away in July 2021. Liz was always very proud of the fact that she taught three subjects and had to be replaced by a number of different teachers – Geography, Social Biology and Economics. She had particularly fond memories of working under Mrs Galley in the Geography Department.
Megan Traini (née Roberts, BHS 1946)
Megan died in January, 2022 at the age of 93. Megan is survived by her older sister, Gene (BHS, 1944) and younger brother, John (BS, 1950), as well as three children, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. At school Megan loved hockey. She studied Medicine at University of Liverpool, where she met her husband, Douglas. They lived in Australia and Uganda before returning to the UK in 1966 when Douglas was offered a position at Dundee Dental Hospital. Megan worked the Medical Sciences Institute at Dundee University, eventually becoming a lecturer in Anatomy.
Ruth Weaver (née Prosser, BHS 1982)
Ruth sadly died in September 2022. Ruth was married with two children and lived in Tunbridge Wells.
Nicola Young (née Treby, BHS 1984)
Nicola died in October 2020 after a brave fight with cancer. After school she trained at Cambridge Marlborough College and worked as Legal Secretary/PA. She leaves her husband Ben and a family of four. Nicky kept in touch over the years with Katy Zwetsloot, Sara Jane Crozier and Clare McCracken. Nicky was a wonderful, strong and caring human, who is greatly loved.
Nicola Young (née Treby, BHS 1984)
Maureen Meadows nee Wooler – 1941 – 2019 (but generally just ‘Wooley’ Bedford High School 1953 - 1959
Going through Mum’s bedside draw I found a note Dad had left her as part of his will. It read “Thanks to you I have lived many years after this was written. I hope you can now get on with your life, my love to you. Guy xxx”
There is a sentimentality to such an item being kept in such a place, a recognition of how important her relationship with Dad was, but it also reveals a theme through my Mother’s life - enjoying caring for others. The other theme, I believe, was humour.
Friends and family were very important to Mum, and her life story can be told by the groups of people who she stayed in touch with, including her friends from school.
Her days at Bedford High School were very influential. It’s why she worked so hard to send me to a school that mirrored closely her own experience. I really appreciate that, as my school days were also incredibly important, enjoyable and influential for me. She was in the Girl Guides, went camping and found success with the netball team.
After the fun school days, the excitement of London in the sixties began. She trained as an orthoptist at Morefields Eye hospital. I will never hear the best stories, but Mum was beautiful, talented and in the right place at the right time. I suspect it was wild.
It was also a time when she developed a profession that meant a huge amount to her, working initially in Northampton general Hospital and later in Worthing. People tend to look confused when you talk about an orthoptist. I clumsily describe it as a physio for eyes, but for her it was a vocation that bought together her desire to care for others and a love of spending time with children.
Mum first saw Dad as Gay and Carol were pulling him along a snowy road in a Ski resort on a sleigh with a broken leg. He apparently asked her to “sit one out” with him at a Tea dance later. T She married Guy Meadows 9then a captain with BOAC on the VC10 fleet) in 1969 and I was born 4 years later.
I suspect the best days of Mum’s life were when I was newly born, and she and Dad lived on their boat in the Mediterranean (my bed was a converted sailbin) before travelling back to England via the Canal du Midi. The photos of that time, which I have only recently found, look carefree, romantic and filled with fun.
They returned to the UK for my schooling, and Mum joined the orthoptics team at Worthing hospital, where she made many friends, and helped many people, both within the NHS and working privately. The fun sailing continued with many Summers in the Isle of Wight and in France - rallies, regattas and parties. I have particularly fond memories of when she took me to Japan, Hong Kong and Brunei when I was 7. We travelled with her good friend Auntie Clem and her daughter Amanda and had amazing cultural experiences and a lot of laughs. Pearl divers and bullet trains in Japan, coffin boats, long houses and polo with royalty in Brunei, eating jelly for breakfast with my fingers in Hong Kong.
When Mum retired, she and Dad spent their Winters in Nerja in Spain. They made many more friends, travelled with them throughout mainland Spain and further afield to Morocco across the Med. They played pétanque, there was more fun, smiles and humour. They also travelled further afield, usually to see friends, sail or ski - Canada, the Seychelles, South Africa, the US, Trinidad and Tobago. At home they supported the fabulous efforts of RAFA and Shoreham Airshow in particular. Mum also joined together with other Shoreham beach ladies who liked to walk in the mornings - they were renowned by anyone up and about at that hour across the Beach, for always having a friendly smile and a wave.
In her later years Mum moved to St Albans to be closer to me and my family and some of her long time friends like Jen. She was definitely a treats and ice-cream Nanna to Jonah, Florence and George and we all spent her last Christmas in the Alps together.
Her last month came as a terrible shock to us all - a brain tumour diagnosis is never expected - but our last month together continued the theme of humour and love - we spent time watching Jeremy Beadle and eating mini cheddars, laughing at Dad’s obsession with foxes and my failing my grade 1 violin. We also enjoyed the many letters, cards and emails from her family and friends which spoke of the themes of her life as well, to quote;
“positive attitude”
“good friend and lovely lady”
“lovely and very capable”
“a good friend, many good times shared”
“proud to be counted amongst Maureen’s friends”
“lovely, kind and thoughtful friend”
“lovely lady and we’ve had a lot of fun”
Many thanks to those many of you who wrote and/or attended her memorial service last April.
Sally Johnson (Daughter)
Dame Alice Harpur School
Moira Margaret Bates (previously Albone, née Richardson, DAHS 1954)
Moira passed away in October 2021, aged 85 years. Moira was awarded an 11+ scholarship to DAHS in 1947. Moira kindly left BGS a generous legacy to be used within the Bursary Fund. Moira’s legacy will enable one student to receive a full bursary from Years 7-Upper Sixth. Moira qualified as a teacher from the University of Leeds. She taught in the Balby area of Doncaster. She married George Bates and they relocated to Little Kimble, near Aylesbury. Moira continued teaching until retirement.
Jenny Clark (Former member of staff BHS 1967-1974 and DAHS 1978-1998)
Jenny died in August 2022. Jenny joined BHS, teaching in the Junior School (1967-1971) and then as the Boarding House Mistress at Westlands in 1971 - 1974. She joined DAHS in 1978 as the Boarding House Mistress, later teaching Year 3 from 1981. A kind and popular member of staff Jenny retired in 1998.
Phyllis Dickens (née Uff, DAHS 1950)
Phyllis died in January 2021. Phyllis visited Bedford with her daughter, Caroline, a few years ago, where she enjoyed walking along the river bank to look at her old home in Denmark Street and the School.
Chief Otutuola Modupe Majekodunmi (1954)
Known by her school friends as Modupe, she enjoyed meeting up with them every September at the DAHSA reunion. She was very fond of her school days in Bedford. Modupe sadly passed away on Boxing Day 2021, when visiting family in Lagos for the Christmas holidays. Throughout her lifetime, Modupe shuttled between the UK and Nigeria, she was an experienced administrator and she worked at the National Bank of Nigeria in London for many years. At the age of 72, she enrolled on a Masters degree in Business Management, drawing on her volunteering experience with Community Action Southwark to use as part of her dissertation. She relished community work: she had previously been Vice Chair of her Tenants and Residents Association, worked with the homeless in Westminster, supported a sheltered unit and served as pastoral leader at her Methodist church.
Nicola Maughan (1982)
Nicola passed away in May 2022 following a long illness.
Dr Angela Robinson (née Jeffs, DAHS 1961)
Angela died in December 2021. Angela trained as a Doctor at St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, before training as a Haematologist. She became Medical Director of the National Blood Authority, pioneering treatment for Leukaemia. She was one of the first DAHS students to qualify in Medicine.
Claire Sage (née Cantwell, DAHS 1991)
Claire passed away in September 2021, after a period of declining health. Through these difficult times, her courage and determination were incredible. At school, Claire excelled and was a very talented sportswoman. Claire was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis and received a life-saving liver transplant at Addenbrookes Hospital, in 1992. For the next 29 years, Claire lived an amazing life, touching so many with her caring, giving nature and wonderful smile. Her husband Craig, parents Joan and Kevin, sisters Michelle (DAHS 1994) and Phili and their families will always be inspired by her.
Judith (Judy) Stimson (née Beal, DAHS 1953)
Judy died in March 2021 aged 86. Her husband, St John Stimson, passed away in May 2022. Both will be lovingly remembered by their children and grandchildren.
Judy was a remarkable woman who dedicated herself to the care of others. She co-curated the Museum of the Home in Pembroke and served as a town councillor. In 2012 Judy was awarded a certificate of commendation by Pembroke Town Council for her fund-raising work.
Ayleen Thomas (née Bull, DAHS 1957 and former History teacher at DAHS 1982-1999)
Ayleen died in July 2022. Ayleen was a friend of fellow DAHS teacher, Wendy Walters.
Hilary Churchill (née Wright, DAHS 1955)
Passed away peacefully on 27th June 2023. She was at DAHS from 1948 until 1955 and stayed an extra term to take the Civil Service Board exams. She married Richard Churchill - an old Bedford modernian in 1958 and they had three children - I am the youngest. After a career in the Civil Service (HMRC) mum had a career break to bring up her family and then trained as a teacher. She was a Year 11 teacher at Rickley Middle School in Bletchley Milton Keynes for over 20 years, retiring in 1997. Hilary and Richard enjoyed a long retirement of travelling and Hilary continued her love of sewing and dress making, including making a beautiful, made to measure wedding dress for each of her daughters. Daughter Mary Churchill-McGowan (née Churchill, DAHS 1988).
Audrey Georgina Hallman (nee’ Jarrold, 1948-54)
Audrey Hallman died on 5 August 2020 at a nursing home in Silsoe, Bedfordshire at age 83 following a short illness. Audrey was born in north London, moved to Shefford, Bedfordshire at age 3 when World War II began and enrolled at Dame Alice Harpur School in 1948. She stayed until completing the Lower VI form in 1954, when she trained as a Montessori School teacher in Brompton, London for a year. Audrey married Joel Hallman of Florida, a US Airman stationed at
RAF Chicksands, in 1956 and proceeded to follow him to duty stations in West Germany, Utah, and Japan before returning to Chicksands in 1965. The German language that Audrey learned at Dame Alice proved handy overseas. The family, which included three sons by now, lived in Clifton with the boys attending English schools. Joel embarked on unaccompanied tours to Texas, southeast Asia, and Turkey between 1969 and 1973 before returning to Chicksands and retiring from the Air Force in 1976. A daughter and another son were added to the family by 1980. Audrey and Joel lived out the rest of their lives in Shefford. He died in 1984. She lived on Shefford’s North Bridge Street, the same street on which her parents bought a house in 1939, for the last 20 years of her life. Audrey Hallman is survived by sons Andrew (wife Mary), Barrington (Pascale), Stephen (Diane), and Christopher (Nicola), a daughter (Georgina), seven grandchildren, two great grandchildren, and a sister.
Audrey Hallman always spoke glowingly of the education that she received at Dame Alice Harpur, to include the inculcating of traditional English values that served her well all her life. The only criticism that she ever made of the school that her children heard was to say that school meals were less than delicious. In fact, there was a pupils’ revolt, of sorts, over the quality of school food during her time there, a complaint summarily dismissed by the stern Headmistress, who described the school meals as “excellent food, enhanced by its cooking.”
Ann Gray 'Matron'
It was with great sadness that we learnt of the death of Ann Gray, Matron to everyone, on 9th February, 2019. Ann began looking after the Dame Alice girls’ in 1971 and retired in December 1999. She dispensed paracetamol if you had a headache or a bucket if you felt sick but most importantly she was a haven, a listening ear, and a confidante. She was involved in both the physical and mental health of the pupils.
Ann also was a very keen and incredibly talented flower arranger and produced beautiful displays for the School. It was common to find someone quietly confiding in her while she put together a pedestal for the entrance hall.
Adventure holidays run by Mrs Scorer were ever popular and Ann always accompanied these nominally as “Matron” but also because she enjoyed the activities as much, if not more, than the girls. She was a great one for practical jokes.
After Ann retired she continued with her flower arranging becoming a teacher and judge and travelling the world to use her talents. She took up upholstery and furniture restoration, became involved in NADFAS, now the Arts Society, as a committee member and as Chairman and the society flourished under her leadership. She was also a member of the Old Dames, a group of retired DAHS staff.
Her funeral was held at Christ Church, Goldington Road on 25th February, 2019 and was attended by well over 200 people including many Old Girls and retired Dame Alice Staff. This showed how admired and well loved Ann was, and we shall all miss her.
Janice Chubb
Miss Suzanne Morse, Headmistress at DAHS 1970-1990
Died 17th December 2012, aged 82.
During her time as Headmistress of Dame Alice Harpur School, Miss Morse made a difference to thousands of people’s lives. Her gentleness, wisdom, poise and thoughtfulness inspired genuine warmth in her pupils and staff. She was a woman of great dignity and blessed with a great sense of humour but also one with an iron will who could see through pretence.
During 20 years as Headmistress, she saw many changes to the education system and remained dedicated to ensuring the very best education was available to as many girls as possible. She persuaded the Governors to approve the use of the endowment for a bursary scheme, a scheme she felt passionate about and one that has had, and continues to have, an enormous, positive impact on a great many women and girls. Her legacy continues in Bedford and the wider world.