Obituary Daphne Black

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

Meldreth Pre-School

Reg.Charity no.1034965

Village Hall Meldreth High Street

This friendly, non-profit making Pre-School now has spaces for September 2008.

We offer Morning, Lunch Club and Afternoon sessions to children between the ages of 2 and 5 years.

We offer a high staffing ratio, whilst maintaining competitive rates. £8.20 per session, £3.00 for Lunch Club

We accept Government Vouchers (which makes sessions for the over 3’s free)

For more information please Contact: Pre-School Leader, Jane Cable on 07952 295655 during Pre-School Hours (Mon/Tue 9-3, Wed/Thur/Fri 9-12.30) or telephone The Admissions Secretary, Yasmin Croxford on 01763 220246

Little Foxes

Baby & Toddler Group

Little Foxes is a friendly, fun, good value, baby & toddler group. The baby & toddler group provides a great opportunity to meet other mums and for the children to play together. It is run by mums & child carers for babies and children up to 5 years old. There are a baby area, dressing up clothes, trikes, trampolines, duplo, cars, dolls, etc. There are creative activities, song & story time and refreshments for the adults & children. Foxton Village Hall Hardman Road Foxton Tuesday (term time only) 09.30 – 11.00 £1.50 per session

bulbs and fuses. Also some heavy rope (which proved useful to haul us out of two rivers where we stuck), and a large knife, which was used to cut us apart from the truck hauling us out of the river. Several tins of fruit and meat proved not enough, the problem of food being most trying. We dare not drink water, but carried what we could in thermos flasks. We made the local inhabitants understand that we liked eggs, and lived on these in various forms for most of the journey until we arrived at Hua Hin, a seaside resort on the East Coast. Here was a real hotel, and we stayed two days cleaning up ourselves and the car; about 120 miles from Bangkok. In all the stopping places we found spotless bed linen, even though other aspects were not as inviting. Each night we took tablets to guard against ‘tummy’ troubles.

For much of the way in Thailand the road was not surfaced, and generally we were travelling over a corrugation of loose gravel and stone, not to mention a few rocks. I found it very hard to control my small car, and finally dropped to 20 – 25 m.p.h. Even then it often slithered, and after many miles proved a trying run, with great eyestrain. We had a map with Thai names and English ones also, and my passenger became quite efficient at deciphering the ‘squiggles’ on the sign-posts, and comparing them with those on the map. Occasionally mistakes were made, but we usually found someone on the route who spoke English.

The most amusing thing was that wherever we stayed, I had to drive the car right into the hotel lounge, all amongst the tables, where it remained for the night, usually having to be driven up a number of steps first, which was quite tricky to manage.

This trip would be impossible during the rainy season, as the roads immediately become a sea of mud. As it was we had one bad rainstorm with a horribly skiddy surface to negotiate.

When we reached Taguapa we had to get a permit from the Chief Engineer to go over the next 100 miles of road. He was dubious about allowing us through when he found we had no man with us, but at last, by taking one of his workmen, we were given a written permit. The man was dropped after a few miles, and we then had two more stops, but flourishing our permits were allowed through with wide smiles all round. Our troubles began again after Nan Nong, as there were no bridges in places where there should have been. I got stuck in one river and had to be hauled out by a truck, but workmen were around at all the bad spots so we were helped out of our difficulties. Very often there were only steep declines and then a ‘bridge’ of two planks across the gap - just wide enough for the car to cross. It was hair-raising driving over these, and my passenger had cold feet each time and got out, preferring to ‘walk the plank’! At one point the road was being churned into a morass by a grader and a bulldozer, but the men took pity on me and my little car and scooped a passage. By this time we had picked up a most helpful young teacher who spoke English fluently, and, although the road again was ghastly and seemed endless, yet there were always people around, and we could buy fruit at the small farms as we passed by. And so we came to Bangkok and lost our way, but a kindly policeman came in the car with us and took us to our hotel. The car I sent back by train to the Malayan border, as I felt it was no longer a holiday jaunt, though yet another experience of the hazards and excitements of driving in a strange and exotic country like Siam.

An Austin A30 similar to the one used by Daphne.

Farm Cottage

Hands

Busy

Rummaging, unfolding

Carefully assessing and selecting

Country colours Ploughed - field brown, Hedgerow and tree greens, Bright summer hues, Red roofing tiles. Fingers

Patiently fashioning wonderful shapes,

Cutting curved petals,

Weaving the see –through centres

With matching connecting threads.

Shaping variegated trees and bushes

With daylight peeping through. Hands Enjoying the thrill of creativity

Working in unison Jigsawing all the pieces Pinning, tacking, machining together The final plan Creating a vivid scene of the countryside In full bloom

Hands

Resting with SATISFACTION! Suzanna 20.4.2010

Poem written on seeing Margaret Starr’s Work at The Tavern Gallery, Meldreth, in April. For future events see What’s On page 45.