Obituary Daphne Black 13 January 1915 to 17 April 2010 Daphne Margaret Black was born on 13th January 1915 to Edith Irene and John Rogerson Black at Harston, Cambridgeshire, her mother’s maiden name being Stockbridge. In May, 1916 Daphne was presented with a baby brother, Colin Rogerson. Sadly Daphne’s father died in December 1919, which made it necessary to move, and this is when mother and the two young children came to live in Melbourn, initially in the High Street and later in ‘Elmhurst’ which was their family home until the late 1970’s. Daphne attended the school in Melbourn and then The Girl’s High School in Cambridge. Her next move was for teacher training at Whiteland’s College, Wimbledon, after which, aged 20, she started her long career as an infant school teacher with her first appointment in Tottenham. She was evacuated to Cornwall with the school when World War II started. Daphne then joined the ATS during the war and was a sergeant with the Royal Artillery on antiaircraft guns. After demobilisation the many years of travelling started, including teaching posts overseas in Rhodesia, Canada, Malaya and New Zealand. Daphne also taught in her home land and this included Oxfordshire and Letchworth and retired in December, 1974 from her last position in Bassingbourn. Daphne was famous for her travels to most parts of the globe, and was particularly fond of mountains, visiting many parts of the Himalayas. Her first overseas trip was to Egypt
in 1939 just prior to the outbreak of war, when she visited her brother Colin who was stationed there with the RAF. In Africa she went to The Congo and Kenya. She visited Mauritius for the wildlife; Canada, especially for the skiing and included the Yukon, and hitched a lift down The Alaskan Highway before it was a built up road. Other destinations have been Peru, Mexico, Panama, USA, Thailand, Japan, Bhutan, trekking in the Himalayas, the Gobi Desert, Kashmir and Eastern Turkey. More recently in retirement the TransSiberian Railway, the Kamchatka Peninsula in Eastern Russia, a Caribbean cruise for the gardens, Croatia and Scotland. No wonder she had six very well used passports! Daphne supported many charities especially the Royal National Lifeboat Institute for which she received a silver medal. Her love for nature and the country side was immense and coupled with this was her aptitude for flower arranging. For many years Daphne’s joy was also singing choral works, being a founder member of the Cambridgeshire Choral Society, and in the church choir, and attending concerts, opera and ballet. Daphne is interred in the Orchard Road Cemetery and with her death an era draws to a close. She will be very sadly missed by many local people and by her friends all over the world. Jean Hamdorff and family
From Kuala Lumpur To Bangkok No Holiday Trip The following is an account of a ‘holiday’, driving from Kuala Lumpur in Malaya, to Bangkok in Siam (Thailand), a distance of 908 miles, made by Daphne Black in 1960. She sent this account to her mother in Melbourn. Before undertaking the journey Daphne wrote to the ‘Protector of Aborigines’ in Kelantan for advice on how to proceed. She kept his reply, and used the back of the letter to make a list of essentials for the trip! She did not mention how long it took.
Here is Daphne’s own account Although this trip has been done by others, I believe it is the first time that a small car, – an Austin A 30 – has got through, and from the astonished looks and comments we received, we were the two first ‘lone women’, and only myself as driver all the way. The preparations beforehand were very necessary. Lots of documents, two new tubeless tyres fitted, and one spare. We just managed with these with only two punctures. As there were only two places on the road where any repairs could be done we did well to hold on until we found them. We carried three cans of petrol, one of oil, one of water and one of brake fluid, with some distilled water and spare Daphne on her 95th birthday. Photo Rowena Tucker
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