One of Grantham NHR/NWR’s founder members, Rachael Spence, died recently after a full and interesting life. She founded the Grantham NHR group in 1980 with a couple of friends and is pictured here (seated, fourth from the right) when we marked Grantham NHR/NWR’s 30th birthday in 2010 by inviting all present and past members to a celebration. Rachael was also involved in the early days of Grantham Talking Newspaper for the Blind in the 1980s.
Rachael was born in Hull and started work at the age of 16 on the Hull Daily Mail, where she was the only woman in the print room. She became an experienced journalist and later had her own weekly column ‘Frankly Spence’ in the Grantham Journal. Her final job before retirement, was at the Sleaford Standard, where she reported on council meetings and coroner’s courts. She was an intelligent woman, always interested in everything; she read the daily papers cover to cover and usually had a notebook and pen with her, when she was out, in case she spotted a story for her column. She enjoyed gardening and socialising with friends and had fascinating stories to tell about her life, at one time living in a moated manor house with two small children!
Jane