On 23rd June, Diana Woodward held a fundraising lunch at her home in Tinkers Lane in memory of her partner and our friend and neighbour, Prof Celia Brackenridge OBE, who died on 23rd May 2018.
Celia was an international sportswoman, a campaigner for women’s causes and gender equality and a world authority on child protection in sport. Indeed she was one of the very first professionals to raise concerns about child protection in sport and suffered opposition and obstruction when she first sought to raise awareness.
However, many of the safeguarding procedures currently in place, at both national and international levels, can be traced back directly to her pioneering work on the sexual abuse and harassment of young sportspeople by their coaches in the 1980s and 1990s.
For many years, the sports establishment was firmly in denial of what was happening behind closed doors, but Prof Brackenridge was an iconoclastic figure who was neither perturbed nor discouraged by the barriers that others sought to place before her.
She joined Brunel University London in 2005 as Professor and Director for Youth Sport and Athlete Welfare, having already established considerable academic credentials at other universities for two decades.
She was a good friend and popular neighbour and is greatly missed by many.
She received end of life care from Rennie Grove Hospice Care and we should remember that there is always a continuing need for the care and comfort that the hospice movement can provide.
Rennie Grove needs about £6.5 million a year and you can donate by phone or post.
01442 890222 fundraising@renniegrove.org