Campaigning midwife who served the community of Preston

Tributes have been paid to the contribution Doreen Eddleston of Broughton, Preston, made to making the world a much better place.

Doreen, who grew up and attended school in Woodplumpton, near Preston, set her heart on a nursing career and joined the St John Ambulance first aid charity and worked at Whittingham Hospital before training in Manchester and later working at Preston Royal Infirmary. She served as both a district nurse and midwife.

Her daughter Ann Marie Lee recalled: "Mum did an awful lot of charity work and also, as a midwife she campaigned to get all the district midwives to have foetal heart monitors so they could hear the baby's heartbeat. She did a lot of studies into stillbirths and cot deaths and set up the Empty Cradle Support Group for people who had lost their babies. At that time there wasn't any support for ladies who had been bereaved."

She continued: "Mum worked really hard over the years to become a teaching midwife and really loved helping to bring new life into the world. It was quite an adventurous job, her winter kit including a bag of gravel and a shovel and it wasn't unusual for her to be digging her car out of a snow drift on one of her many home births. One night she even had to be towed by the farmer in a blizzard to get to his wife who needed mum's help."

Doreen also helped provide medical care to members of the local travelling community who held her in esteem.

A highlight of her career came when she was chosen to meet the Queen at a celebration of the centenary of the Royal College of Midwives.

She married husband Bill, an electrician who became a works project engineer. The couple met at a dance in nearby Barton and married in 1963 and went on to have two children, Ann Marie and James.

In her spare time Doreen helped with the soup kitchen at St James church in Avenham, a predecessor to the night shelter which was later set up in Preston.

She co-founded the Preston branch of the Osteoporosis Society and became its treasurer. In time the branch raised enough money to purchase a CAT scanner for the Royal Preston Hospital.

As a keen member of Soroptimist International, which works to improve the lives of women and girls, she helped ensure their local aqua box appeal was a success, helping create survival packs complete with a water purifier for emergency aid. She also stored the boxes at her home until they were ready to send off.

A former churchwarden at St Anne's, Woodplumpton, Doreen studied floral art at Myerscough College and used to help arrange the wedding flowers for brides at the church. Donations received went towards funds for memorable flower festivals at the church, which in turn raised money for a new church meeting room.

She and Bill enjoyed much travelling in their retirement.

Doreen had two bouts of cancer, the first some 38 years ago. She died at St Catherine's Hospice.

Canon Ron Greenall, who officiated at her funeral and thanksgiving service at St Anne's,Woodplumpton, praised her "gumption, grit and gracefulness".

Ann Marie added: "She always put everyone else first, before herself. I will remember her smiling...smiling at her grandchildren", while husband Bill described her as "the best in every way".