A FORMER matron of Queen's Park Hospital whose nursing skills helped people around the world has died suddenly, aged 77.

Joan Kathleen Hobkirk (pictured) died at her home in King Street, Whalley.

Born in Cairo in 1922, Mrs Hobkirk returned to England a year later with her mother, father and elder sister Dorothy.

After leaving school in 1939, she began nursing training at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in London and qualified as a State Registered Nurse in 1943.

In 1945, she joined the Queen Alexandra's Nursing Corps and a year later was posted to Palestine.

She returned to England in 1951, where she continued nursing while developing her nursing qualifications.

In 1956, she was awarded a scholarship by the joint committee of the Red Cross and St John to study at the Royal College of Nursing and, in 1960, was awarded a scholarship from the Imperial War Memorial Fund.

She was appointed Matron of Queen's Park Hospital in 1962 and became involved with the St John Ambulance in Blackburn the following year. She married Edgar Snowdon Hobkirk in 1964 in Blackburn, and the couple lived in the town up until 10 years ago, when Mrs Hobkirk moved to Whalley. Her husband died in 1976.

Mrs Hobkirk retired from nursing in 1965, was asked to write a book on anaesthetics and was appointed to the Brockhall Hospital Management Committee.

Her book "Anaesthetics for Nurses" was published in 1971 and the first edition was translated into French and Spanish.

In 1972, she was appointed President of the St John Ambulance in Blackburn and, in 1973, became a member of the Association for Mental Health, and a founder member of the Mind Centre in Regent Street, Blackburn.

After her husband died, she took his place as a member of the Family Practitioners Committee, and was a member of the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley District Health Authority.

More recently, she continued to be an active member on several committees, including the East Lancashire Hospice and the Mind Centre. She was a regular at Whalley Parish Church and involved with Whalley Abbey and Blackburn Cathedral. She was a member of the Company of the Sacred Mission and the Blackburn Society of Antiquaries, and maintained her position as a director of the family business, Hobkirk Industrial Sewing Machines Ltd, in Blackburn.

She leaves a son, Peter, who is president of Blackburn Chamber of Trade, a grandson, Mark, and a great-grandson, Callum.

Her funeral was today Blackburn Cathedral.

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