FORMER Girl Guides Commissioner and leader in Kinson, Bournemouth and Dorset, Audrey Reeks, passed away peacefully aged 87.

Audrey was dedicated to the guiding movement throughout her life, having joined the ‘campaigners’ at St Johns Church in Upper Parkstone during the Second World War. She went on to devote her life to the Girl Guide movement and caring for others.

Born in 1931, Audrey Merrifield grew up in Upper Parkstone, with her mother, Hilda Merrifield, her aunts Daisy and Lily Merrifield, and her grandmother Elizabeth Merrifield.

Audrey attended Heatherlands Junior School in Parkstone from 1936 to 1941.

She went on to attend the Kemp Welch Secondary Modern School in Herbert Avenue, Parkstone, which opened in 1938. She was at the school until 1945, leaving aged 14.

After leaving education, Audrey went to work as grocer’s assistant in Mr Botwright’s Grocery and Provisions Shop on the corner of Richmond Road and Ashley Road.

As well as supporting and caring for her mother and two aunts at home on ‘Monkey’s Hump’ - the steep hill at the Rossmore end of Albert Road - she also loved, helped and cared for her two younger brothers, Stephen and Dennis Merrifield.

Audrey provided much-needed financial help in the Merrifield Home, without the support of a father and no welfare or child benefits available at the time.

On July 12, 1952, at the age of 21 she married 26-year-old Reginald William Reeks. The couple had four children together - Andrew, Angela, Patricia and Christine – before becoming grandparents and great-grandparents.

Audrey was dedicated to the Girl Guides movement from the early 1940s and extended this role as leader and eventual district commissioner of the guiding movement.

She organised and ran annual camps for the Girls Guides each year in Dorset, as well as at Dudsbury and Foxlease. She played a part in the Trefoil Guild in the Bournemouth area organising coach trips, outings, visits to other guiding movement groups throughout the United Kingdom.

Audrey became well-known across the world, including Australia and New Zealand, for her devotion and work to the guiding movement for young people.

She also helped the Townswomen’s Guild in Kinson, organising trips and hosting garden parties at her home in Daws Avenue, Wallisdown.

Audrey was a Christian her whole life, attending St Johns Church, Upper Parkstone, West Howe Baptist Church, St Phillips Church, West Howe and St Marks Church, Wallisdown.

She continued to care for her mother, two brothers and two aunts at the family home in Albert Road, providing long-term support to her brother Stephen following a near-death accident in 1968 and subsequent bad experiences.

“Through it all, Audrey was always there, as loving, devoted, faithful, caring sister, who was steadfast and reliable to the very end of her life on this earth,” Stephen said.

Audrey Reeks passed away at Poole Hospital after a short illness on March 9, aged 87.