A WOMAN who dedicated 45 years to the British Red Cross Society in Okehampton died on the eve of her 91st birthday in Okehampton and District Hospital.

It was down to the discipline and training given by Meneen Kingsford Lethbridge, of South Tawton, that many members of the Red Cross in Okehampton ended up in senior posts within the NHS.

A founder member of the reformed Devon 34 (Okehampton) detachment in 1937, Miss Kingsford Lethbridge signed up as a member prepared to serve with the forces and this she did with the Royal Army Medical Corps in military hospitals during the second world war.

In 1948 she became organiser of the local National Blood Transfusion Service and took part in all Red Cross activities from emergency nursing help in both of the town?s hospitals, escorts with the St John Ambulance to first aid at public events. She also started a club for the disabled and the first mobile chiropody service in the county.

Miss Kingsford Lethbridge became assistant commandant at Okehampton in 1952 and commandant two years later when the detachment had more than 100 members.

She received the Red Cross Badge of Honour for distinguished service with life membership and the Voluntary Medical Service Medal with four bars.

Fifteen years were spent as a member of Okehampton Hospitals? House Committee, five as chairman and Miss Kingsford Lethbridge was also a member of the Exeter and Mid Devon Hospitals? Management Committee for 12 years.

On her retirement from Okehampton Red Cross in 1982 she was quoted as saying how proud she was of the detachment and would miss it very much. ?It was a tremendous interest and source of great happiness to me,? she said.

One of her trainees was Joan Pauley, who is in a small band of volunteers who still keep the Red Cross flag flying in Okehampton.

Miss Pauley, who runs the medical loans scheme in the town and collects for Red Cross Flag Week, said Miss Kingsford Lethbridge was one of those people who always rolled up her sleeves and mucked in with everybody.

?She was a very forthright and disciplined person but she had a heart of gold and a very understanding manner,? she said. ?Without the training we had a lot of members would not have gone on to have such senior positions within the NHS.?

Carmel Fanconi, a former Red Cross volunteer who went into the nursing profession, described her tutor as ?very inspirational?.

?Not becoming professionally qualified after the war was something she regretted her whole life,? said Mrs Fanconi.

?Looking at her years of dedicated service to the Red Cross prompts me to say that the loss to nursing and the NHS was a gain for the Red Cross and the community.

?Her leadership inspired many to become volunteers and give years of commitment to the Red Cross.?

Other tributes have been paid to the leading light of Okehampton Red Cross, including one from Wendy Mitchell who moved to the town just over 30 years ago and joined the Red Cross.

She said: ?My first contact with Miss Kingsford Lethbridge was when I received a letter inviting me to meet her ? the commandant.

?Nervously I entered the room wondering what misdemeanour I had committed but I had no need to worry because I was greeted by a big hand shake and a warm smile suggesting I might like to act as quartermaster.

?I remember Meneen busily arranging coffee mornings and other fundraising events with her home at Wood, South Tawton, making an ideal venue for fetes, open gardens and so on, made available especially to ?her charity? ? she was a very special lady.?