Frances Winch

Frances Girbow Winch (1931–2019) was born in Coventry in 1931, the only daughter of Dinah and Arthur Girbow. Frances went to grammar school before studying History at Bedford College, London, after which she qualified as a teacher. Her first teaching job was at Thistley Hough School in Stoke on Trent where she worked from 1953 to 1959. Frances then taught in Tanganyika and Nigeria, where she became a school principal. She married her American husband, Fred, in Battle in 1966. They moved to the USA, and it was there that their daughters Dinah & Jill were born. They then moved again to West Africa, where Frances continued teaching. Frances and the girls settled back in England, moving in with her now widowed mother, in Fairlight, East Sussex. Frances got a job at Helenswood School in nearby Hastings, where she stayed till the late 80s. She adored her grandchildren May and Ellis. In retirement she took up botanical recording. She was Chair of the local branch of Amnesty for many years. Frances died in Fairlight.