My friend Gwen Ledger, a teacher, who has died aged 93, was the niece of the artist Eric Ravilious and the last member of the family who knew him personally.
As a schoolgirl in the 1930s, Gwen would watch Ravilious painting in his studio at the family home in Eastbourne. The younger brother of Gwen’s mother, Evelyn, he is now regarded as one of the finest 20th-century British artists. Before her death, Gwen bequeathed numerous works of art, most notably a Ravilious watercolour, Lombardy Poplars, to the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne, where one room is dedicated to his work.
Gwen was born in Burton-upon-Trent, her father, Vernon, having accepted a post with the YMCA, helping to resettle returning soldiers after the end of the first world war. There was an irony here that was not lost on Gwen: she was a lifelong Methodist teetotaller whose birthplace was the centre of the brewing industry.
During her childhood, they moved often, setting up home in many towns, including Falmouth and Oldham, and at 18 Gwen went to Manchester University to read English – she graduated in 1944 – and then start a teaching career. Her final post was back in her family’s home town, at Eastbourne high school for girls, from which she retired to embark upon voluntary work.
It was my work as an NHS manager that led me to meet Gwen in her capacity as a trustee for Age Concern and the local Association of Voluntary Services. She came to offer me advice on services for older people, advice that felt more like an instruction. But it led to a 30-year friendship that went far beyond professional issues. Over hundreds of cups of coffee, I got to know her well and encouraged her to continue to promote the voluntary sector as an important adjunct to the statutory services, something she did well into her 80s.
Gwen’s final years were spent in the Berry Pomeroy residential care home, where she was very happy. Once a teacher, always a teacher, she said as she checked the minutes of residents’ meetings for spelling and punctuation. And as scriptwriter for the annual Christmas pantomime, she delighted staff, residents and visitors alike with a relevant, localised take on fairy tales or nursery rhymes.
She is survived by two cousins: Eric Ravilious’s daughter, Anne, who was a year old when her father was lost flying over Iceland in 1942 in his capacity as a war artist, and Avril.
