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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=210 BGCOLOR="#99CC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0408dfc3.jpg"> <div> <B>Her greatest gift </B><B><U>is</U></B><B> love.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="2dcc82c0.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="300" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> Frances Huntly Drakes, nee Ricketts, in 1993, aged 73</div> <bR> <div> <I>When I was a young teenager, some of my mate's Mum's looked like 'Nora Batty', but my Mum turned men's heads; people thought she was my big sister.</I></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=140 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0418dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Drax, Dracas, Dracass & Drakes</B></FONT><B>     </B><B>|</B><B>     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Drax, Dracas, Dracass Drakes"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Research"><U>Research</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="British racial origins"><U>British racial origins</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DNA"><U>DNA</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id59.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My DNA"><U>My DNA</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="YDNA Project"><U>Y-DNA Project</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Basques"><U>Basques</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="When where"><U>When & where</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Old maps"><U>Old maps</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Births"><U>Births</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marriages"><U>Marriages</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Deaths"><U>Deaths</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="In Loving Memory"><U>In Loving Memory</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Relationships"><U>Relationships</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Trees"><U>Trees</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Drax"><U>Drax</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Darfield"><U>Darfield</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ellerton, Charborough Olantigh"><U>Ellerton, Charborough & Olantigh</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dracas(s)"><U>Dracas(s)</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tealby"><U>Tealby</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bayons Manor"><U>Bayons Manor</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Morton Grange"><U>Morton Grange</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thurlby Hall"><U>Thurlby Hall</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ludford"><U>Ludford</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stainton Hall"><U>Stainton Hall</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gunthorpe Hall"><U>Gunthorpe Hall</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photos"><U>Photos</U></A>   |   <B>Mum</B>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rick"><U>Rick</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jeremy"><U>Jeremy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ian"><U>Ian</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mark"><U>Mark</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Martyr"><U>Martyr</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Waterman"><U>Waterman</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sailors life"><U>Sailor's life</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Worth Matravers"><U>Worth Matravers</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id66.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Woolbridge"><U>Woolbridge</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="W. 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One day, whilst working at Vauxhall, the air raid siren went off and she ran with her bicycle towards the air raid shelter; a German plane flew over and machine-gunned the girls as they ran. After the raid was over she noticed that one of the bullets had gone straight through her cycle frame, but completely missed her - she was just a girl about 20 years old. She became a St. John's Ambulance volunteer nurse.</div> <bR> <div> She married Richard Bruce Drakes, whom she met at Vauxhall. After a few years, he left her and their two sons, eventually without any financial support, and started another family. She had to find work, and took a post as assistant cook at the Electrolux Factory in Leagrave, Beds., so that she could be at home with the boys during school holidays.</div> <bR> <div> As soon as her sons were old enough, she trained as a State Enrolled Nurse at St. Mary's Hospital, Luton, Beds.; she was 'Nurse of the Year' there during her training. Then she became a State Registered Nurse, Staff Nurse, and eventually a Senior Sister at the Luton & Dunstable Hospital, alongside the then new M1 Motorway in Bedfordshire. She felt that she was being pushed towards becoming a Sister Tutor and thus away from direct nursing, which she loved.</div> <bR> <div> When plans were in hand to take International Flights out of Luton Airport, she applied for a post in the new Port Health to be formed there. She was appointed as the Sister-in-Charge of the new unit, with four nursing Sisters under her, a budget, some empty rooms in the airport, and instructions to create a Port Health Department. </div> <bR> <div> About 1968, she arrived the same day as Margaret Thatcher, who was then the Shadow Minister of Transport, to see the first International jet land at Luton. The airline then operating there was Court Line; later Monarch Airlines became the main airline there.</div> <bR> <div> Over the coming months she bought all the equipment and furniture, instructed the staff, liaised with the Luton Airport & local Fire Brigades, the local Ambulance Service, the various airline staff, the Airport Director, and anyone else who might become involved in a medical incident on a plane or in the Airport complex. She laid down procedures for just about every medical emergency and minor incident.</div> <bR> <div> She arranged First Aid Training for all relevant airport staff, and set out procedures for recovering ill or injured passengers and crew from planes. </div> <bR> <div> She made arrangements for regular information on medical requirements for countries around the world, and set up a system for inoculating passengers travelling to countries with current health warnings, and undertook numerous other necessary tasks. </div> <bR> <div> She really enjoyed her time at the L&D Hospital and Luton Airport, until her retirement about 1986. A copy of her Biography of her days at Luton Airport is available, for those who are interested, at <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/ArchivesAndRecordOffice.aspx" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/Community"><U><B>Bedfordshire & Luton Archives</B></U></A></FONT>.</div> <bR> <div> Her love of nursing had always been second only to her love for her two boys, who she brought up on her own without help from anyone. All our school mates, especially those who had 'Nora Batty' Mums, thought she was our older sister. She was gorgeous and turned many heads as she walked by, and she kept her figure for the rest of her life, always looking more like our sister that our Mum.</div> <bR> <div> She sadly lost her elder son after an accident at work in 1991; she never recovered from the loss - no parent should see the death of a child, no matter how old.</div> <bR> <div> At 76 years old she finally gave up doing 'Meals on Wheels' to the elderly in their 60s! But was still a voluntary worker at a local charitable home, and Church Warden at her church when she died aged 81 in 2001; she was due to cover a funeral at her church the day she died.</div> <bR> <div> I always wanted her to burn bright to the end and suddenly 'go out' just like a candle, which she did. She would have hated being dependent on anyone, and especially being a burden on her family. </div> <bR> <div> She was, and still is, our 'hero'. </div> <bR> <div> Her greatest gift <U>is</U> love.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>