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Kate Cooke MBE
Andrew Delanoix Cooke
The success of voluntary effort depends entirely on the calibre of those who participate and in Bourne during the 20th century one person’s dedication stands out above all the rest because Kate Cooke was always on hand to provide guidance and practical help in a wide range of ventures for the good of the community. Her outstanding work was recognised in 1953 when she was awarded the MBE in the New Year Honours List in recognition for her public service.She was born Kate Elizabeth Andrew on 9th August 1896 into an old Bourne farming family that claimed descent from the Lincolnshire explorer Sir Joseph Banks, and educated at a private school for ladies in Stamford where she excelled in music, singing and playing the piano with some accomplishment. Sport was also a favourite pursuit, becoming captain of the school hockey team and later playing for Bourne Town where she was spotted and selected to play for the Lincolnshire side at county level. Tennis was also a favourite game which led to the captaincy of the Bourne Tennis Club. After leaving school, one of her first tasks was to join the Conservative Party which was to be a lifelong passion, later becoming the first lady chairman of the Rutland and Stamford Divisional Conservative Association, serving in many capacities and always to the fore at election time, especially at Parliamentary level. She also founded the annual Conservative bazaar held at Stamford and worked as its chairman, an event which raised a considerable amount of money for party funds over the years. But politics was only a small part of a wider involvement with the community and during the Great War, she worked as a VAD nurse at the military hospital set up by the Red Cross at the Vestry Hall in North Street, a dedicated act by the town which cared for almost 950 wounded soldiers from the front between 1914-18. As a result of her work, Kate was awarded a Red Cross medal that was presented by the Countess of Ancaster in 1922 when those who had also participated were similarly honoured. Further patriotic effort followed during the Second World War of 1939-45 when she became centre organiser for the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS), an organisation that played an important role on the home front and her work as billeting officer for hundreds of evacuees who were sent here to escape the bombings in their home towns was a major achievement in her career. She also found time for local government affairs, sitting as a member of Bourne Urban District Council and for a spell, as chairman of the housing committee, for education, serving as a governor of Bourne Grammar School and for her religion, being elected a member of the Bourne Parochial Church Council. She also found time to appear on stage in performances by the Bourne Amateur Operatic Society and was devoted to a succession of dogs, mainly poodles and smooth-haired terriers, and blue Persian cats. There were many accolades for her untiring efforts and apart from her well-earned MBE, a lifetime spent in serving the Conservative Party was acknowledged in the summer of 1972 by the Bourne Tory Women’s Tea Club which she had founded and had recently retired as its chairman when, during the annual open meeting on Friday 16th June she was presented with an illuminated address signed by the Prime Minister, Edward Heath. The document was handed over by Kenneth Lewis, MP for the Rutland and Stamford constituency which then included Bourne, who spoke of her stalwart support for the party. “This document represents our esteem, love and affection for Mrs Cooke and the appreciation by the party leadership”, he said. “Thank you for all you have done for us.” Mrs Cooke was deeply moved. “I do thank you all very much”, she replied, “and I shall value this for the rest of my life. If I had it over again I would do the same as I have done.” She then received a standing ovation. By this time Mrs Cooke was a widow. In 1920 she had married local landowner and farmer, Everitt Delanoix Cooke (born 15th October 1895), and they lived at the Manor House in the Austerby, where they had two children, a daughter Joy, born in 1925 and a son Andrew, born in 1927.
As a young man, he became active in local affairs being elected to Bourne Urban District Council and nominated in 1927-28 as one of the youngest chairmen at the age of 31, and was an enthusiastic member of the National Farmers Union, serving as chairman of the Bourne branch, and of the Christmas Fatstock Show, and as a staunch Tory, he became chairman of the Bourne branch of the Conservative Association for a spell. Mr Cooke was a member of the Deeping Fen and Black Sluice Drainage Boards and chairman of the Bourne Society for the Prosecution of Felons. At one time, he was also a breeder of shire horses and built up a prestige herd of pedigree Lincoln Red cattle as well as a racing stable which achieved a considerable amount of success. He suffered from diabetes for 30 years which resulted in several spells in hospital and in December 1963 he was admitted to Guy's Hospital in London but returned to the active management of his business affairs. Shortly afterwards, on Friday 3rd January 1964, he was backing his car out of the garage at the Manor House ready for a business trip to Spalding when he suffered a heart attack and collapsed and died at the wheel, the vehicle crashing through the shrubbery and into a cherry tree. He was 69. The funeral was held at Marholm crematorium in Peterborough and conducted by the Vicar of Bourne, Canon Hugh Laurence, prior to cremation, the attendance reflecting his popularity because there were more than 400 mourners, nineteen cars carrying those to the service from Bourne. Mrs Cooke continued with her voluntary work but was dogged by ill health in her closing years and she died, aged 82, in a care home at Uppingham, Rutland, on Saturday 19th August 1978. The funeral service was held the following Wednesday at the Abbey Church conducted by the vicar, Canon Gordon Lanham, followed by cremation at Grantham
REVISED APRIL 2012See also Bourne’s Military Hospital The Hull evacuees
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