TRIBUTE TO BRIGG'S AUDREY BROOME

Audrey Broome 1922 - 2011

Audrey was born in Chadderton (near Oldham) in a neighbourhood called Westwood in 1922. She was an only child but grew up in a busy household. After the misfortune of losing her own mother when she was still in her teens, the other generations of the family lent their support until she entered adulthood.
She and future husband, Ron, went to the same school – but through separate entrances – and during the war in 1942 they were married, just before Christmas. Ron had 3 days’ leave, just enough time for a brief honeymoon in Colwyn Bay.
Audrey began work as a typist and after the war she and Ron moved to Brigg. They liked the town so much that once they had arrived they never even thought of moving anywhere else.
They were living in a prefab on Woodbine Grove when their son, Adrian, arrived, before moving to a house in Central Square which was famous because Joan Plowright had lived there earlier. Daughter Lorna was born 5 years later.
Until the children were born and again after they had moved up to secondary school, she worked for Brigg UDC and later Glanford Borough and Brigg Town Councils, as Secretary to the Town Clerk and the Chief Executive.
She also ran a night school class and gave private tuition in the art of shorthand and typing. There are many people – or more accurately, women – who passed through her fingers in this way!
Away from work and the family Audrey numerous other interests, although one of these did stem indirectly from work: as Secretary to Joseph J Magrath OBE she soon became involved in promotional and educational work with RoSPA, the road safety organisation. She helped to organise and run the popular County Schools quizzes and staffed the Society’s stand at the Lincolnshire Show. In fact quizzes and puzzles gave her a lot of pleasure and occupied a big part of her leisure time when she was not making wine, practising calligraphy or photographing this, that and the other for the annual competition in the Sturton by Stow village show, where she was elected to serve as President for a year. She was particularly proud of being a member of the Brigg team which won the Radio Humberside Top Town Quiz.
Not that she was a great fan of Humberside itself, however. No, she was a fervent supporter of Lincolnshire as a County and (somewhat uncharacteristically some might say) joined in with the locally arranged demo and lobby down in Westminster in Support of ‘County 22’ before the 1974 Boundary Commission review established Humberside on the political map.
Audrey had a love of the countryside and took the family away to places such as the Lake District and Ireland. She supported the local branch of CPRE and (what is now) the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. Friends have recalled how she could sit happily in a quiet spot, maybe in a bird hide, enjoying the tranquillity and beauty of Mother Nature at work. She was just as happy tramping up a Cumbrian fell side and revelling in the view from the top. She was not a very active gardener, preferring just to enjoy its delights once the hard work had been done by others!
She spread her wings further afield once the children had grown up and left home. She and Ron enjoyed several holidays in Europe, and after he died in 1986 she continued to travel whilst she was still able, including making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land led by Rev. Canon Roy Cochrane, former vicar of Brigg.
At different times in her life she was an active member of various Brigg societies and organisations and supported many others with her presence at their events. Notable among these was her long association with the North Lincolnshire Music and Drama Festival where she officiated for many years as well as serving a term as President. She helped to establish and then run the Brigg Olde Tyme Dance Club and Class for many years, learning new dances and then teaching them to enthusiastic couples at the alternating fortnightly sessions. These took place in the Corn Exchange, as did the Festival and the Top Town Quiz, and no-one was more upset than Audrey when it closed. She was a member of the Brigg Singers, Brigg Civic Society and the Mothers’ Union.
Audrey was a regular worshipper at St John’s Church whilst her health permitted and she took great comfort from her faith. Even towards the end of her life, with the family’s help, she would still manage to attend from time to time before the physical effort involved became too much.
She spent the last months of her life comfortably in the care of Orchard Court Residential Home in Brigg.