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News  »  Mary Braybrooke



   Mary Braybrooke    27 January, 2023

Mary Braybrooke

As many of you will know, Mary Braybrooke sadly died on 12 December.  There was a memorial service at Dorchester Abbey at 2pm on Monday 27th February,  led by the former Bishop of Oxford, John Pritchard. Members of Mary's family and some of her working colleagies spoke very movingly about their many very special memories of her.

 

Mary became part of this community when her husband Marcus was appointed vicar to the Baldons and Nuneham Courtenay in the early 1990s.   Mary, a social worker, was a Child Care Officer, a Kidney Support Officer, pioneering surgery-based social work, as well as a magistrate.

She played an integral part in Marcus’ ministry both locally and internationally, as part of the worldwide inter-faith movement, and indeed her work on different faiths’ view of organ transplants won international recognition.

I met Mary just as I was heading off to university, when she arrived in the Baldons, and throughout my adult life she was a much loved and inspirational influence in my life.  She was an enthusiastic part of village life, whether singing in the church choir, on the stage in the Baldons Players am-dram society, playing in the handbell team or setting up local groups to support those who were house-bound, among many other activities.

Although she had retired from the magistracy before I joined, her steadfast faith and her belief in justice inspired me, and she encouraged me in my ambitions to become a magistrate and always wanted to hear how it was all going.  

Mary and Marcus had retired to Devon in 2021, but visited the Baldons in October, when despite significant frailty, she still took an active part in a Team service at Clifton Hampden and was pleased to see many local friends.  I know I will not be alone in missing her wisdom and perspective on the world, and in sending love and prayers to Marcus, Rachel and Jeremy and the whole family.

Natasha Eliot

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