My father, Cyril Frain, who has died aged 91, was a kind man whose career was spent in nursing and in nurse training. He was influential in nursing education in Bristol and was a member of the General Nursing Council. He believed in promoting the caring aspects of the profession as well as the academic side.
Born in Swinford, Co Mayo, Ireland, he was one of five children of George Frain, who worked for the family’s gentlemen’s outfitters business, and Brigid (nee O’Meara), a housekeeper for the bishop of Achonry. He was brought up in Ballaghaderreen.
After leaving school in the town, Cyril emigrated to Britain, aged 18, working first at Harperbury hospital for people with a learning disabilities in St Albans, Hertfordshire.
He completed his registered mental health nurse training at Horton Road hospital, Gloucester, moving to Frenchay hospital, Bristol, in 1953 to qualify as a registered general nurse. There he met Sheila Walsh, also a nurse, and they married in 1957. They settled in in Sea Mills and he worked at Ham Green hospital, south of the river Avon, catching the small ferry to get to work.
In 1962 Cyril went to Battersea College (now part of Surrey University) for two years to undertake the nurse tutor’s course. His first job teaching nurses was at Bristol Royal Infirmary. In 1975 he became director of nurse education at Frenchay. This enabled him to buy his first car, a yellow Ford Popular. In 1989 he moved to the Avon College of Nursing and Midwifery, staying there for five years.
For eight years from 1982 he was a member of the General Nursing Council. In 1995 the University of West of England awarded him an honorary degree.
Following his retirement in 1994, Cyril and Sheila moved to Westbury-on-Trym and set about fundraising for St Joseph’s care home. He was a prolific reader and bookshop-lover, and enjoyed pilgrimages to Walsingham, Fátima and Rome.
In 2013 Cyril and Sheila moved to St Monica’s Trust, a large residential care facility on Durdham Downs, Bristol. He continued to enjoy visiting family by train, travelling to Ireland and trips to London for exhibitions and the theatre.
Sheila died in 2016. He is survived by their children, Dominic, Clare and me, and his grandchildren, Madeleine and Luke. Another son, Michael, died in 2008.
