My mother, Beryl Allan, who has died aged 94, was a keen scientist whose varied life included working in radar for the army and, later, bringing science to members of the Women’s Institute. Science, and its public understanding, was the field to which she dedicated much of her later life.
Born in north London, to Elsie (nee Dawson), who worked for a milliner, and Colin Broadbent, a gentleman’s tailor, Beryl went to Southgate county school, where she excelled educationally and at sports.
Soon after the second world war broke out, she started a physics degree at Birmingham University. She never completed this as she responded to calls for scientists to join the army and signed up to work on radar. Her initial posting in Woolwich had to be changed as there were no toilets for women there.
Beryl married my father, Alastair, in 1945 and they moved to Birkenhead. I was born a year later; my brother, James, completed the family in 1949.
Beryl continued to work in a variety of jobs, initially at Rediffusion converting TVs to take ITV, then as a market researcher for Nestlé, ending up as supervisor for north-west England. She rejoined the army in 1970, as a captain, and retired as a recruiting major in 1985. That same year, she was lady captain of Delamere golf club, Cheshire, where she played with my father.
She took a science degree with the Open University, graduating in 1997. By this stage, through an OU course on decision-making, she had joined the Women’s Institute, where she set up a national network of science coordinators, providing opportunities for women to explore scientific topics. She developed and delivered talks and workshops around subjects such as The Physics of the Black Forest Gateau, the last one delivered at the age of 91.
Alastair died in 1989. In 1997, Beryl moved in with me in Leicester and took full advantage of the cultural and educational opportunities available. Along with a chemistry professor from Leicester University, she set up a local branch of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (now the British Science Association) and in 2006 was honoured with an award for BAAS volunteers.
In 2003, at the age of 81, she was invited to Buckingham Palace for a special event honouring “pioneers of the nation”. Beryl was one of 400 people to be honoured, along with David Attenborough, Zandra Rhodes and remaining members of the Beatles.
Throughout her long life my mother always played an active role in her local community and with her family, sharing her love of education, classical music, golf, books, bridge and walking.
She is survived by James and me, by her three grandchildren, Zoe, Chris and Tom, by six great-grandchildren, and by her sister, Valerie.
