Vera sadly passed away on 31st July 2015 at the grand age of 101.
She was awarded the MBE in 1971 for her 40 years of teaching in a deprived area (Grangetown) and for her pioneering work in environmental studies.
She was President of Redcar RNLI who she began raising funds for in 1930 as a girl of 16. It is estimated she has personally raised a staggering £1m+ in her lifetime.
She was also a keen local historian for Redcar writing a dozen books. I met her in 1991 when she appeared in my early doco 'Grangetown-North of the Road'.
She had one son of her own and fostered dozens of others. They were all lads, often a bit wayward and all soon straightened out by no nonsense Vera. An epic life, an epic legacy, a Redcar legend!
