Page 53 - QARANC Vol 14 No 13 2016

Teresa (Terry) Clachers 1930–2016
Born in Renfrew, Scotland in 1930, Terry joined the QARANC in the late 1940s. Her first posting was to Cowglen Military Hospital in Glasgow where she worked under Captain Maureen Gara. She was very nervous on her first assignment but Capt Gara was incredibly supportive and Terry described her as one on the kindest and most helpful people she had ever known.
In 1951 Terry was one of a group of 20 members of QARANC who left Harwich en route to the British Military Hospital in Hannover, Germany. There she met her husband-to-be Tom who was in the Royal Army Medical Corps. They married in Hannover and their son Anthony was born there in 1953.
After Hannover the family moved to Hong Kong when Terry worked at BMH Bowen Road. Their second son Tim was born there in 1957. Following the years in Hong Kong the family travelled to several locations on military service including Kenya, Colchester, Aldershot and Bicester.
When Tom left the army in 1967 on health grounds the family settled in Fife in Scotland. Over the subsequent years Terry did a lot of voluntary work for various charities and also became an expert in French polishing as well as a doting grandmother to her four grandchildren Carly, Tyne, Scott and Erin.
Terry often said that joining QARANC was “the best idea I ever had and loved every minute of it”. She still kept in touch with Janet Thomson from Dumfries, one of the squad that she travelled to Hannover with in 1951. One of her biggest regrets was not joining the QARANC Association earlier than she did.
In 2009 Terry suffered a major stroke but made a remarkable recovery to the extent that at the age of 82 she was able to travel by train on her own from Fife to the QARANC reunion
Nurse Clachers is in the first seat on the right of the front row
in Chester in 2011. She described it as one of the most wonderful experiences of her life.
In March this year Terry suffered a second major stroke and after a brave fight passed away on 26 April. She is sadly missed by her family as a loving mother and grandmother.
THE GAZETTE QARANC 51
Marie Made Page (nee Robinson)
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Marie Page, known as Robin to her QA colleagues. She was born on 14 April 1921 in Biddulph, Staffordshire and died in March 2016.
Marie always wanted to be a nurse. When she left school, Marie worked at the Grange Hospital, Biddulph and then moved in January 1940 to University College Hospital, London. Here, she trained and lived in very difficult times with a close team of nurses. They built amazing friendships, which were to last all of their lives. After completing her training, Marie continued to work at UCH until early 1944 when she applied to join QAIMNSR.
Along with some of her UCH colleagues, who also joined QAIMNRS, she was posted to Lincoln College, Oxford in April 1944. She transferred to Bayeux, Normandy in July 1944 and followed the campaign’s progress across Belgium to Heverle and Louvain. In late 1945 she was posted to India where she worked in Bombay, Calcutta, Bangalore and Madras. There, she met and married her husband, Maj John Page, before returning to the UK in late 1946.
They, with their son and daughter, travelled to West Africa before returning to the UK in the early 1950s.
She continued nursing in Congleton, Cheshire where she lived for the rest of her life. She worked at Congleton War Memorial Hospital and then as a night sister at the War Memorial Hospital and Leighton Hospital, both in Crewe, until she retired. Even in retirement, she enjoyed looking after others. She made good
friendships as a volunteer for Age Concern.
She attended the local QARANC meetings and, when she
was no longer able to travel, she eagerly awaited the delivery of the Gazette. She was always delighted to receive cards and gifts from the Association.
Marie was a member of the Normandy Veterans Association and was held with the highest esteem by the soldiers who were so proud to have a QA as one of their members. She made many poignant visits to Normandy to honour the fallen. She was awarded the Legion d’Honneur in September 2015.
Her family were honoured that standard bearers from QARANC and the Normandy Veterans Association were present at her funeral.
She was a much-loved mother, mother-in-law, grandmother and dear friend to many.
Legacies
The late Maj (Retd) Joan Battersby £5000 The late Eveline Duff £500 The late Clemantina Molyneaux £500 The late Miss Audrey Mary Wisdom £500.22