Announcements

Eileen Robson

A SERVICE of thanksgiving for the life of Eileen Robson was held at Hexham Abbey

The 70-year-old, who was the wife of Hexham’s Mayor, Coun. Terry Robson, died at home on February 27 after battling ovarian cancer for the last 12 months.

Despite undergoing major surgery and gruelling chemotherapy in an attempt to keep the disease at bay, Eileen was told by doctors in September her condition was terminal.

Following the news, in a reflective letter to her loved ones, she shared her hope that she would be “thought of with affection and remembered with laughter.”

“Eileen has been a big support to me over the years,” said Coun. Robson.

“We would have been married for 25 years in December.

“We made a great team and losing her has left a huge hole in my life.”

For many years Eileen stood by Coun. Robson’s side as he campaigned to take his place in local politics as a councillor at town, district and county level.

For 15 years she was also on a panel of lay-people involved in hearing employment tribunals in Newcastle.

And around a decade ago she joined the Rotary Club of Hexham where she played an active role in fund-raising and chaired a number of committees.

As chairman of the club’s foundation committee, she led an initiative which saw 5,000 purple crocus bulbs planted in the grounds of Hexham Abbey in support of Rotary International’s End Polio Now campaign.

Eileen also threw herself into fund-raising initiatives which generated thousands of pounds for Rotary, including singalong concerts at Hexham’s Queen’s Hall, selling greetings cards and a duck race which took place on Devil’s Water at Dilston.

“She was a great organiser and had a great sense of theatre,” said Coun. Robson.

“I’ve had so many cards and letters from people full of kind words.”

Eileen grew up in Corbridge and was the daughter of George Hunter, who was the village postman, and his wife Margaret, who worked at the village telephone exchange.

She attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and was a self-confessed “little swot” who loved to learn.

But a love of travelling also took her to Israel where she visited Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee, before returning to the UK to study English at the University of Liverpool.

And being based in the heart of the city’s emerging music scene during the 1960s meant Eileen had fond memories of seeing the Beatles, the Stones and Little Richard live in their early days.

An opportunity to teach English as a foreign language abroad took Eileen to Sweden after her degree and by 1973 she had decided to embark on a tour of the USA with friends in a VW van.

By 1977, Eileen had settled in Oxford after being appointed to Somerville College as director of studies for students studying English as a foreign language.

It was there she spent 11 years before she felt it was time for a change and headed back to Hexham to join her recently widowed mother.

The plan had been to emigrate to Australia to join her brother Alan, who died last year, but a chance meeting with Coun. Robson changed things.

“It was 1988 and I was advertising for a training director at the Tynedale Business Centre, which used to be based on Gilesgate,” said Coun. Robson.

One of the first training organisations in the North, the centre brought together youth training, modern apprenticeships and many other schemes.

“Eileen applied for the job and I knew it was only supposed to be a stop gap for her because she had these plans for Australia. But we hit it off.”

The pair went on to build an award-winning business until their retirement from the training world around 14 years ago.

The couple were then able to enjoy spending time in their second home in the Lake District – where Eileen conquered Helvellyn via Striding Edge aged 65 – and many cruise holidays to far-flung destinations including Vladivostock, Hong Kong, Iceland and Yalta.