My former colleague Anne Chambers, who has died aged 78, had a gift for engaging with small children that sustained her through a lifetime of teaching, but also helped her through 25 years of work as a volunteer providing support to the children of prisoners.
Anne was born in Longtown in Cumbria, one of the six children of Eliza (nee Johnston) and Donald Boyd, a railway signal-box operator. Anne studied at Carlisle girls grammar school and then trained as a teacher in Durham before taking her first job at a small school in Great Corby, near Brampton in Cumbria.
In 1955 she met Dick Chambers, an academic who specialised in organic chemistry. They married in 1959 and almost immediately moved to Vancouver, where Dick had taken up a research fellowship at the University of British Columbia. They returned to Britain after Dick was offered a lectureship back at Durham University, but went back to North America in 1966 when he accepted a sabbatical year working at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Returning to Durham in 1967, Anne was instrumental in establishing the Durham University playgroup, offering day care support for pre-school children of university staff. She then returned to teaching at Neville’s Cross infant and junior school in Durham, where she was based for some 20 years.
Dick’s job at the university involved collaboration with scientists from around the world, as well as travel to conferences, research visits and lecture tours. Anne accompanied him on many of these trips and they forged great friendships across Europe, and in the US, Japan and Russia. Anne also became known for her exceptional hospitality when international scientists stayed with the couple in Durham.
Retirement did not mean twiddling thumbs, and for almost 25 years until her death, Anne was an active member of Nepacs, a north-east regional charity that supports prisoners and their families. Anne’s unpaid job was to greet visitors top prison with a warm and welcoming smile, listen to their troubles and make sure that children in particular had a good experience of any visit. She was the ideal volunteer, always dependable, always supportive, never judgmental. Her unassuming and gentle contribution made a huge difference to many vulnerable families.
Anne is survived by Dick, and by her son Mark, and grandchildren Dan, Ben, Alexa and Jack. A daughter, Louise, predeceased her.
