FORMER Crediton School Nurse and Guider, Frances Batchelor died, aged 78, peacefully at home surrounded by her family on Sunday, March 28.

Frances was born and educated in Swindon, Wiltshire before training as a nurse at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford.

She graduated as SRN in November 1963 and married her husband Bob, a month later.

She began her nursing career as a staff nurse at the Fielding Johnson Hospital in Leicester and later worked at the St Clements Hospital in Truro.

After the births of her two children, Helen and David, she took “A” levels and retrained as a Further Education Lecturer, teaching Biology, Human Biology, Pre-Nursing Studies and First Aid at The Wulfrun and Bilston Colleges of F.E. in Wolverhampton.

The family moved to Crediton on April 1, 1977 and Helen and David went to Q.E. School. Frances took up girl-guiding, first with Pat Burton in Crediton, and then forming a company at Sandford.

Frances decided to return to nursing, working briefly at Creedy Court Nursing Home and Dr Maycock’s surgery in the High Street before becoming a school nurse at Q.E. Lower School.

She remained a school nurse in the Crediton area for 17 years until she retired in 1999.

She worked at Q.E. Lower and Upper School as well as most of the local primary schools.

As well as the normal school nurse activities she was passionate about health education for young people and organised many health related projects for the pupils of the schools she was involved with.

Whilst based at the Upper School she made a point of interviewing every pupil every year to help and advise them on how to live a healthy life-style.

Frances’ life outside work was always very full.

She spent most of her time with her family, but she also had an allotment in Star Field, next to her home for 35 years and quite a large garden.

She loved reading, especially Charles Dickens, all of whose works she read several times and had a number of his first editions.

Another great passion was classical music, of which she had a very large collection and which led her to attending Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra concerts in Exeter, Barnstaple and Poole.

France was Frances’ favourite holiday destination, tenting and later caravanning.

Over 35 years she and Bob visited almost all regions of France but her favourite places were Paris, Tours, Les Eysies and the Mediterranean.