TRIBUTES have been paid to a key player of the Abingdon drama scene and an inspirational teacher.

Former Larkmead teacher Eileen Bagshaw died suddenly at the John Radcliffe Hospital last Wednesday. She was 81.

Her son Stuart Bagshaw, 55, said: “She adored the stage her whole life and was a strong believer in the power of drama and performance to enhance the lives and futures of children of all backgrounds.”

The youngest of four sisters, Eileen Mcintosh was born to Scottish parents on December 2, 1932, at Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland.

She was educated at an all-girls school in Hammersmith during the Second World War and then studied to be a nurse at Withington Girls’ School, Cheshire.

She married John Bagshaw in 1955 and the couple returned to Co. Down where she began to give critically-acclaimed stage performances in Bangor and Belfast. Mrs Bagshaw then trained as a teacher and, after a year in Derby, the family moved to the Abingdon area in 1971.

As a newly-appointed teacher of history and commerce at Larkmead, Mrs Bagshaw quickly determined that work experience would be crucial to improving the future of many of the pupils.

Despite resistance from many of the then Abingdon-based companies to this new concept she won them over and always thought of this as her most important achievement.

After retiring from Larkmead in the 1990s, she continued to teach there as a substitute for a further 15 years.

The school in the early 1970s had little tradition of stage productions but, with support of colleagues, Mrs Bagshaw ensured that acting, dancing and stagecraft became a part of Larkmead life.

Larkmead headteacher Chris Harris said: “She was a real character. She was part of every performance that could involve an adult.

“She never wrote off students as beyond support and care. “She was very patient and engendered a great deal of affection from her students.”

Mrs Bagshaw, who was living in Abingdon at the time of her death, also played or held every role she could with Abingdon Drama Club, her productions as widely acclaimed as her performances.

Widowed by the sudden death of her husband, then 62, in 1991, Mrs Bagshaw maintained her commitments to many organisations for the rest of her life.

She received the Mayor’s Award for Service to Abingdon in 2004 and served as a regular judge of Abingdon’s Got Talent.

She enjoyed a large and lively 80th birthday party last year.

She is survived by her children – Stuart, Duncan, Oliver and Melanie – four grandchildren and the last of many adored dogs.

Her funeral will be held on Saturday at St Helens Church, Abingdon, from 1.30pm.

Her family said they wanted to thank the staff at the John Radcliffe’s intensive care unit for their professionalism and their caring.