A CIVIC memorial service has been held in Saltash to remember Barbara Spring who died last September 18 in Faversham, Kent at the age of 97.
The event organised by Saltash Town Council and held at St Stephen’s Churchyard was to remember Barbara for her long service and dedication to the town.
She was mayor of Saltash in 1992 and 1993, served four terms as a county councillor and was awarded the honour of Freeman of Saltash in 2001.
Town flags flew at half mast in the memory of Barbara, a long-time town volunteer. A great supporter of the Saltash railway and St Barnabas hospital, she also championed arts projects throughout her time as town and county councillor, and led the campaign to have the pedestrian humps installed in Fore Street. Her lasting legacy can be seen in the refurbishment of the Guildhall with many of her colour choices for its internal decoration still in place today.
Family and Saltash friends and dignitaries gathered for the service held on Monday, February 20, conducted by Saltash mayor Cllr Julia Peggs and Reverend Diane Burrows.
Her eldest son Peter said: “I am profoundly grateful to Saltash Town Council for providing the civic context for the memorial service.
“Initially our thoughts were, isn’t that putting the town to too much trouble, but the pushback we had was, that basically, we’d quite like to do it, so that was fine.
“My mother loved pomp. Barbara regarded a sense of occasion as deeply important and this was amply provided by Saltash. The service had two maces covered in shrouds, and the mayor and the town clerk in their robes. It was magnificent.”
Barbara’s ashes were also returned to the town she made home for more than 28 years, to be laid to rest with her husband at St Stephen’s churchyard in line with her wishes. Her husband George Spring, died in 1996 following a brain tumour. He was instrumental in the establishment of the town’s Twinning Association and links to Plougastel, bringing the two towns together.
Barbara was born in 1927 in the town of Utica in upstate New York to an American mother and English father. The family moved to Rose Valley, Philadelphia, where her father Percy Brown ran a dairy distribution business. Barbara grew up in Philadelphia, until events intervened. Her father’s business was bankrupted during the Depression and Percy returned to England with his family in 1931.
Barbara went to a girls boarding school, before returning to America as the second world war loomed. At the end of the war with the collapse of her mother’s marriage, Barbara travelled extensively in France, living in Paris before going to Royal Holloway College where she gained an upper second class degree in English.
She got engaged to her brother’s study mate at college, George Spring, and they married in 1954 and had four of their six children while living in Africa. On returning to the UK, they lived in London for four years, which her husband George hated. He moved the family to Cornwall in 1965, initially living in Trewen, they finally moved to live in Saltash at Higher Port View. All six of the Spring children finished their school education in the town.
Peter Spring explains: “Barbara was very unhappy in Cornwall until she started to get to know people. She became a county councillor in the 80s and was one for 16 years. She told us all that she stood as a Liberal, and nobody gave her a chance. She knocked on every single door in her ward and to everybody’s astonishment, she won!”
Describing herself in letters to The Independent newspaper as “one who achieved a better-than-expected degree at Royal Holloway College”, she eloquently wrote in 1984 of the misery losing the Post Office would cause the town she was serving as councillor.
She wrote: “We are fated to buy stamps along with the sweets, to cash Giro cheques alongside the CDs, to collect benefits among the comic books and romantic novels. I have an old-fashioned idea of the independence, dignity and simplicity of post offices and am absolutely affronted by this unwanted change.”
Peter said: “She had a very good writing style, and every letter that she wrote to The Independent was published.”
Married for over 40 years, her wish was to be buried and reunited with her husband after spending 29 years apart. It was important to deliver her wishes, says Peter. “29 years is a long time to bring people back together again.” And it turns out it was a reunification on many different levels, as not only was she reunited with her husband but also her grandmother who is buried close to him in the cemetery at St Stephen’s.
A spokesperson for the Saltash-Plougastel Twinning Association said: “Barbara's husband George was instrumental in setting up the twinning between Saltash and Plougastel. Jacques Illien and George met in Brest some forty years ago and decided Saltash and Plougastel had something in common.
“A testament to this friendship is that Saltash-Plougastel Twinning Association is still active and travelling to Brittany this year, with more younger people than ever. We are grateful for the Spring's love of France for this happy connection.”
A spokesperson for Saltash Town Council said: “The council offers its condolences to Barbara’s family and friends at this sad time and will remember her as the colourful character she was during her time as a councillor.”
Paying tribute to his mother at her cremation Peter told the congregation: “We can reflect on a life of three continents (USA, Africa, and Europe), 14 houses (just in my life time) and more than 20 in total, six children, 18 grandchildren, five great grandchildren, four times Cornwall county councillor, two times mayor of Saltash and 97 years from New England, USA, to Kent, England.
“It has been one hell of a ride. In the concluding words of Edgar in Shakespeare’s King Lear: “We who are young shall never see so much, nor live so long.”