It could be easy to forget when looking at this frail old lady, whose body and mind had failed her, that she was actually a very interesting woman. Born in 1929, in Enfield, London, she survived both a deadly bout of scarlet fever and the Second World War! Sent away as an evacuee, she spent much of her childhood in Wales where she had many an adventure building dams in streams and blackberry picking. (Activities she’d take great delight in coaching her grandchildren in many years later, often to the exasperation of their parents, on returning home sopping wet and covered in mud.)
Following the end of the war she made her way back to London where she had two boys, Trevor and Richard. When she met her true love, “Dumble”, they decided to move to Cheltenham where they bought a higgledy-piggledy cottage that remained “home” for the next 50 years.
Here in Cheltenham, Bron leaves a lasting legacy of proudly teaching hundreds, if not thousands, of primary school children until her retirement aged 60 (35 years ago!) She then traveled the world, including the Great Wall of China and an eccentric mission to Cameroon to teach the local children to read and write and help communities establish hives of honey bees. Only Bron.
It would be remiss of me not to also mention that she was incredibly stubborn and pig headed. We butted heads and didn’t always see eye to eye. Underneath it all was a love that i don’t think she really knew how to give. It’s also fair to say that Bron endured much sadness in her life. The cost of love, I suppose. I don’t think she ever truly recovered from the death of her beloved Dumble, his wonderful daughter Chrissy and her own son, Richard.
I hope you’re all reunited and that you can rest well now, Bron. A life well lived. Thank you for all the memories and all you taught me x
Beth Osborne
24/05/2025
