Maureen Nicol OBE Tribute
NWR were very sad to receive the news that our founder Maureen Nichol OBE died on 10 August 2024
Our thoughts go out to Maureen’s family with our heartfelt condolences.
BBC Radio 4’s Last Word is an obituary programme telling the life stories of those who died recently.
We are delighted to announce that tomorrow’s Last Word is featuring our founder, Maureen Nicol OBE – Friday, 13 September 2024 at 4:00 pm.
The programme will also be available on www.bbc.co.uk/sounds or you can go directly to the Last Word page on BBC Sounds here.
Click here to read Maureen’s obituary in The Guardian (online – opens theguardian.com)
Click here to read Maureen’s obituary in The Guardian (scan of newspaper – opens as a PDF download)
Click here to read Maureen’s obituary in The Times (online – opens thetimes.com)
As many of you will know Maureen responded to a letter in The Guardian Women’s Page in February 1960 entitled Squeezed Like Sardines in Suburbia. It was published by the editor Mary Stott and struck a chord with Maureen Nicol, a young Cheshire housewife who wrote to the paper: ‘Perhaps housebound wives with liberal interests and a desire to remain individuals could form a national register so that whenever one moves one can contact like-minded friends.’
Maureen was overwhelmed by requests from women wanting to join ‘her’ register and the National Housewives’ Register was born.
This was the start of NWR as we know it today, and we are forever grateful for her enthusiasm and foresight in setting it up.
A book was compiled for Maureen by Lynn Welsher and presented to her at the Golden Conference in 2010 (photos included below) in a hard backed book which we know she loved reading! You can download a copy HERE
Maureen remained passionate about NWR and in 2020, to celebrate our Diamond Anniversary, she gave a wonderful interview with Natalie Punter, our National Organiser at that time, which you can access by clicking on the link below.
As a form of tribute if you would like to share any stories of Maureen and / or your thoughts on what the organisation means to you, please send them to the NWR office or you can add your comments at the bottom of this page.
Tributes from members / groups
As a long-standing member of the National Women’s Register I would like to pay tribute to the pioneering Maureen Nicol whose courageous effort brought about the organisation which turned into a life-line for many women. I first encountered the National Housewives Register, as it was known as then, in the 1970s when I was asked to speak about my job as a journalist in Barnsley. I set about explaining my work but was challenged on all fronts on a range of topics. I quickly realised I was in the presence of lively, intelligent, inquisitive women who thrived on debating topics outside of their family life. Later, when I had my first child and was now working from home, I joined the Sheffield Branch and found it an invaluable way of making friends. On moving to a village outside Peterborough I discovered my nearest town, Market Deeping, did not have a NHR so together with another woman, we created a group which I believe is thriving today. The NHR was a gift to this very isolated mother of two.
For all my subsequent moves (Wootton Bassett and now the Marlborough Branch) the local organisers were my guiding lights and the people I met through the NHR/NWR some of my lifelong friends.
Maureen Nicol was an extraordinary woman who recognised a universal need and acted upon it. On behalf of my NWR branch, Marlborough in Wiltshire, I would like to say a huge thank you to her and send the group’s heartfelt condolences.
Lisa Bernard (Marlborough NWR)
Ten of our thirteen members of Amersham North NWR group met today [12 August] for our annual shared lunch in my house. The news of Maureen Nicol’s death only came later in the day. Sixty four years after she founded National Housewives Register, we today enjoyed each other’s company, with delicious food and drink, and appreciated belonging to such a wonderful organisation. Between us we must have clocked up several hundred years of membership! What a remarkable lady…
Antoinette Ferraro
Like Lisa from Marlborough, I have joined a number of NWR groups following several moves over the last forty years. I have always found my friends through these groups and have always had a warm welcome. Maureen started something bigger than she imagined, and so many women over the last 60-odd years, and beyond, have reason to be grateful to her. Helena Graham, Wokingham 3 and Wokingham Forest groups
Thank you Maureen for inspiring 40 years of wonderful friendships
What a wonderful interview the late lamented Maureen Nicol gave. When I joined Amersham South NHR in 1978, after hearing about it on the radio, it changed my life. Like Maureen I had recently started a family, given up my job and moved to a different area. We were desperately hard-up and I was fed-up with no friends. I heard about the NHR on the radio and found the register in the library. It turned out that like-minded women who became firm friends were just round the corner and my life changed overnight. I’ve moved four times since then and always found friends via NWR along the way. After my most recent move the groups here are bursting at the seams so two of us retirees are currently starting another group. Thankyou Maureen Nicol for your inspiration.
Elaine Barrett – Westbourne, Bournemouth.
As our founder member Maureen provided a fantastic example for all lively minded women. She showed that it is possible to go far with enthusiasm and perseverance. Thank you for starting the organisation which has been a lifeline to me for over 40 years.
Thanks Maureen for your inspirational idea and taking it forward. Without your actions I wouldn’t have met the members of Sawley NWR who have been a source of friendship, fun, inspiration, education, support and more over the last 37 years. Over the years we’ve discussed a vast range of topics, had speakers, visits, meals, parties and events. Thank you. May you rest in peace knowing how many people and their lives you have touched.
Thank you Maureen for your foresight, and perseverance in founding an organisation that has proved invaluable to thousands of women. NWR has provided me with a readymade set of new friends after each of our many moves during my 40+ years of membership. The experiences, opportunities and friendships gained by being members of NWR are many and varied – let’s not lose them.
The effects of Maureen Nicol writing her letter have been an influence on my whole life. NWR has given me and many more thousand women mental inspiration, companionship, a support group and life long friends. My latest goal at 90 ( and role model to the Broadstone group, so they call me ) is to still be an active member at 95! Thank you Maureen
Culcheth Group is as old as the National Group & I have been a member for fifty two years. Our group was started by Cath Murphy who was in Maureen’s first group and helped her with the setting up. Cath moved to Culcheth shortly afterwards and always spoke well of Maureen and acknowledged what an amazing organisation she started. We were able to take Cath to the National Conference at Warwick where they had a wonderful trip down memory lane. Cath died last Christmas. My NWR group has been a lifeline for me and many others in our group.