Oonaugh was born 16th August 1932 in Caston, Norfolk. She was the second daughter of Clement and Ellen-May Hopking. She was named after Oonagh Guinness: her mother had been in service with the brewing family before she married. In 1943 she gained a scholarship to Thetford Grammar School for Girls, following in the footsteps of her sister Olive. In 1950 she went to Wall Hall Teacher Training College in Hertford, and trained to be a Primary School Teacher, with a specialization in teaching English. It was here that she developed her interest in the Romantic Poets, particularly John Keats. During her years at Teacher Training College, Oonaugh performed in many plays. She also became interested in politics and was involved in the Federalist/World Government movement. She was a UK representative at several Federalist Student conferences in London, Copenhagen and Amsterdam in the early fifties. (I have recently come across her ‘World Passport’: she is World Citizen #553, as I recall). After college she started work as a Primary School Teacher in Bushey in Hertfordshire. Having realized she was unlikely to change the world, she decided to change Watford instead. She was active in the Federalist and Languages Clubs in Watford, and became Treasurer of both. She was a romantic at heart and fell in love several times at college and in Watford. She also had many men propose to her, but turned them all down. In 1955 she met and fell in love with a young Irishman and, in 1956, got pregnant by him. Rather than succumb to peer and family pressure to give the baby up for adoption, she ‘disappeared’ to Dublin where she took a room at The Overseas Club on Harcourt Terrace. To support herself, she worked as a seamstress. Having failed to change either the World or Watford, she decided to focus on changing herself. During her stay in Dublin she converted to Roman Catholicism. Her confirmation happened at St Patrick’s Catherdal on the same day as the All-Ireland Hurling final, so proceedings were punctuated by roars of approval from Croke Park a mile away (Wexford beat Cork 2-14 to 2-8). Her son (Clement James Martin - "Seamus") was born 13th January 1957, one week after her father unexpectedly died. Although she had planned to stay and make a life for herself in Ireland, instead she returned to England to be with her family. She moved to Rickmansworth to stay with Gordon & Joan, friends from the Languages club. Being a single mum in 1950’s Britain was difficult: she was unemployable by the Education Boards because of her ‘moral reprehensibility’. She was however able to get a job through the Catholic Church, at the local convent school. As a ‘marriage of convenience’, she wed an American airman in 1959. They never lived together and she never used her married surname. This marriage was annulled in 1965. However, as a married woman, she was now able to apply for jobs with the Education Boards, and she (and I) moved to Hemel Hempstead in 1960. First working at Highfield School, in 1962 she moved to the new Gade Valley. She was the first teacher employed there, working alongside the headmaster George Field, and his wife Nora. She taught first reception and later on top infants. When the school split in two - Infant and Junior schools, she became deputy headmistress of the Infants school. In all, she worked at Gade Valley for 23 years. In a number of cases she taught two generations – first the parent and then the child. She took early retirement in 1985. She was conscientious and hard-working, and her pupils loved her – some of them visited her for years after leaving her class. Throughout my early childhood she remained an active member of the local Conservative Association. She ran a coffee morning to raise funds for the Cub Scout troupe that I was a member of, in the church hall every Sunday morning. (She continued to do this for almost twenty years after I left the scouts.) However, her interests increasingly had a more esoteric bent. She read widely and practiced Palmistry and Astrology (she regularly did a “Madame Zena” tent at the school’s Fete, which was extremely popular). Her hair turned white prematurely. She started going grey in her late twenties and gave up dying it in her late thirties. In the mid-1970’s she joined a Gurdjieff group at Amersfort House just outside Hemel Hempstead, and she remained with them until the group disbanded about ten years later. As part of this group, she painted, made pots, sang, composed poetry, and performed plays. Following her retirement at the relatively young age of 52, she took a job aptitude test. The test came back that she had the aptitude to do pretty much whatever she wanted! She took shorthand, typewriting and book-keeping correspondence courses but did not take them any further. She worked as a supply teacher and a remedial tutor for several years in Hemel. In the early years of her retirement, she joined a group run by Douglas Baker, a theosophist, speaker and author, near Hertford. She was an active member for five years, until the group folded. She also became active in Mensa, helping out at meetings in London and residential events throughout the country. At this time she also started to recite The Great Invocation. On the evening of full moon she would travel up Ivinghoe Beacon, a local beauty spot not far from Hemel, usually with friends, and recite a short poem called The Great Invocation, which calls for world peace and understanding. In 1998, following Labour’s 1997 election victory, she returned to politics. She worked as a volunteer in the Hemel Hempstead Conservative Association office, first full-time, going down to one day a week by the end of 2006. She continued to live in Hemel Hempstead until the end of 2006 when, as it became increasingly difficult for her to manage the practicalities of house, garden and car, she moved to Glastonbury to be closer to her family. She drove her car until the day she left Hemel, in December 2006. She moved to a cottage in the heart of Glastonbury in Somerset, right next to Abbey Park, on the site of the Glastonbury Abbey ruins. She became a familiar figure in the town, going to and fro the bank, post office and shops. In spring 2007 she was diagnosed with slow-onset dementia. Despite this she remained fiercely independent, refusing any help from Social Services. The only support she did accept was from her grandson, who would do her main shopping every week. A week before Christmas 2008, while recuperating from a fall in her cottage, she fell down a flight of stairs at her son’s house. She was very badly concussed but miraculously no bones were broken. Following a long stay in Yeovil District General Hospital, she moved to St Benedicts nursing home in Glastonbury in March 2009. There then began a slow but steady decline of both her strength and her will to live. On Sunday 30th October 2010 she suffered a stroke, from which she did not regain consciousness. She died four days later on Thursday 4th November 2010.