We were saddened to hear of the passing of Rose Radford BA. MBE. (15th June 1908 - 27th December 2007.)
Brian Adams St Basils Company Secretary attended the service of thanksgiving at Birmingham Cathedral on 14th January on behalf of the Board of Directors. Everyone was welcomed by the Very Revd. Bob Wilkes, Dean of Birmingham. Rose was a well loved teacher and headmistress as well as being involved in various charities such as Toc H, Trinity Centre in Birmingham and of course St Basils Board of Directors.
"We have a great deal to give thanks for when Miss Radford took up the headship at Swanshurst in 1959, she opened up opportunities for us beyond our imagination (Janet Downs, former pupil.)
Miss Radford always told us we could achieve anything we wanted, provided of course we were prepared to work for it and if we weren't willing to work we either didn't really want it or deserve it. (Ruth Waters, former pupil)
We recall below our memories of her involvement with St Basils
ROSE RADFORD & ST BASILS
St Basils was founded on 1st October 1972 with the opening of the first Nightshelter, soon to be known as ‘The Boot’
Rose Radford was involved from the late seventies but her major involvement started in September 1982 when ‘St Basils Centre Ltd’ was formed to manage and run the growing organisation. She was on the first Board of Directors and was formally appointed on 8th September that year.
She became Chairperson of that Board on 29th October 1984, a post she held until January 1988 when Ven John Duncan was elected to replace her. She stayed as an active member of the Board until December 1992. In the 10 yrs 4 mths that she served the Board she attended no less than 71 meeting and never missed a meeting when she was Chair.
Her service with St Basils was not just on the Board. In her early days she was the Chair of our ‘Working with Girls’ Management Committee (a cause especially close to her heart), she was a member of the Personnel Committee, the Accommodation Area Development Group and the Finance Committee.
Rose Radford’s time with St Basils coincided with a period of great change, which she helped to mould.
Radford House was opened by Rose on May 10th 1994. I quote from that year’s Annual Report; “The Project was named after Miss Radford in recognition of her valuable contribution to the work of St Basils, in particular that with young women over many years”
Blair Kesseler (most of the detail provided by Brian Adams, our Company Secretary. Miss Radford was on his interview panel!)
