BRANCH CO-FOUNDER BETTY JACKSON DIES AGED 101

Betty Jackson, branch co-founder along with her husband Denis "Jacko" Jackson, has died aged 101.

The couple convened the inaugural meeting in Buckland village in July 1973 and over the years with other committed members raised more than £150,000 for the RNLI.

The couple met in 1940 in Malta where Jacko was with Army intelligence and Betty was working as a cyphers clerk after her father had been posted there to command a Naval establishment defending Valletta harbour.

Betty and Jacko married the following year and were to have four children.

On active service Jacko had been seriously wounded in Italy but later parachuted into Arnhem. Postings after the war took the family to Singapore, Cyprus, Egypt and East Africa as well as the UK.

Jacko rose to brigadier and then following his retirement in 1964 became the bursar at Balliol College, Oxford.

In 1967 they bought their own house in Buckland -- and a 31-ft yacht which was to become an important part of their lives sailing often to France, Spain, Mallorca and the Channel Islands.

Noted for her great energy and speedy walking (she was dubbed 'the granny who marches' by one of the younger family members), Betty threw herself into a host of voluntary community activities, including, happily for the Institution, the RNLI.

After Jacko's death in 2001, aged 86,, Betty remained much involved in village life and, keen as ever on sports and sporting activities, would often swim 35 lengths of the 25-metre pool at RAF Brize Norton.

Needing more help in her 90s, she ended her days in a care home in Cheltenham leaving behind on her death 22 direct descendants.

Current chair Denis Pope has fond memories of the couple, saying: "I worked very closely with Jacko in my role as honorary secretary for close to 20 years before his death.

"I had tremendous respect for him but I always knew my place, jumping to carry out his instructions as he was used to giving when serving in the Army.

"Wherever Jacko went Betty was always close by his shoulder and always supported him 110 per cent.

"Such a strong partnership as those two displayed will unlikely be seen again."