Frances Norah Woodsford

Known as Norah to her family and friends, the remarkably talented Bournemouth woman died at her home on February 20, aged 99.

Her delightful correspondence reflected a joie de vivre, an ironic wit and an interest in the wider world, both culturally and politically. Norah sketched, painted, sewed, designed clothes and dressed with style. In her 90s she could still finish the Daily Telegraph’s cryptic crossword in 20 minutes.

Instead of studying for a maths degree at Cambridge University, the early death of her father and her elder sister meant Norah had to leave school to become her family’s bread winner.

In the post-war years she kept a roof over her widowed mother’s head by working as secretary/matron at Bournemouth’s public baths.

Details of that work, its frustrations and long unsociable hours are described with great humour in her letters to Mr Bigelow.

A selection was published by Chatto and Windus as Dear Mr Bigelow in 2009, when Norah was 96. The same letters were also broadcast that same year on Radio 4 as Book of the Week.

Copies are now in the archives of Bournemouth Library and the Museum of Rural Life at Reading University. A second volume, called Wish You Were Here, may be accepted for publication soon. The Woodsford family leave at least two legacies to Bournemouth. The letters are, in part, a social history describing how things were in the town after the war.

And Norah’s adored younger brother, Frank Macpherson Woodsford, is commemorated in the Woodsford Memorial Homes for World War Two widows and their families.

He raised much money for the homes and was given an MBE by the Queen.

Frank predeceased Norah, who never married.

She was kind and generous at heart and will be missed by many.

Typically, she willed her body for medical research, so there was no funeral.