She always had a pot of tea ready before you finished knocking.
In loving memory
Eleanor Ashworth
1946 to 5 October 2021
Born in Bath, EnglandVerified by the family
“Leave every room a little warmer than you found it.”
Hear Eleanor
Remembered by 17 people, across 3 decades and 3 places
Family1School1Work1Neighbours1Admirers1
Their life in pictures
Their story
A teacher for forty years and a gardener for longer. Eleanor kept an open door, a full teapot, and a list of everyone's birthdays in the kitchen drawer. She built with patience, loved without condition, and left every room warmer than she found it.
Their life at a glance
Forty years in the classroom: two thousand children in Bath learned to read with her, and many came back to tell her so.
Where they studied
- Bath High School for Girls
- Teaching Certificate, Redland College
Their work
- Class teacher
- Head teacher
- Volunteer reading tutor
Honours and awards
- MBE for services to education
Service
- Parish councillor
Clubs and communities
- Widcombe Horticultural Society
- St Thomas à Becket choir
Faith and tradition
Church of England, a chorister for nearly fifty years
Languages
English, and the French she taught herself at sixty
Close to their heart
Children's literacy, Marie Curie nurses, Bath's allotments
Family
Survived by
Catherine Price, daughter
Michael Ashworth, son
Tom Ashworth, grandson
Lily Price, granddaughter
Joan Whitcombe, sister
Predeceased by
Robert Ashworth, husband
Walter Pryce, father
Edith Pryce, mother
And loved by everyone who ever sat at her kitchen table.
- Walter Prycefather
- Edith Prycemother
- Joan Whitcombesister
Eleanor Ashworth
- Robert Ashworthhusband
- Catherine Pricedaughter
- Michael Ashworthson
- Lily Pricegranddaughter, Catherine’s
- Tom Ashworthgrandson, Michael’s
A life in decades
1940s
Born in Bath, England1946
1960s
Began teaching at St Mary's Primary1968
1970s
Married Robert Ashworth1971
1 person who remembers them first met them in these years
1980s
Planted the garden on Widcombe Hill1985
1990s
2 people who remember them first met them in these years
2000s
Retired after forty years in the classroom2008
1 person who remembers them first met them in these years
2020s
Until 2021
In their own words
Written and sealed by Eleanor Ashworth
In My Own Words
I have lived quietly on purpose. What mattered to me was never noise, but presence.
What I Believed
I believed in showing up, in keeping promises, and in leaving people better than I found them.
Stories people tell
What others remember about Eleanor
The eulogy
Mum taught for forty years, and she never stopped. She taught us to plant sweet peas in March and to say sorry first. She taught Tom to make a pot of tea last an afternoon, and Lily to read before she could tie her shoes. Her door on Widcombe Hill was never locked in daylight. Neighbours came for a cup of tea and left with a cutting from the garden and the feeling that they mattered. She kept a list of everyone's birthdays in the kitchen drawer, and she used it. When Dad died she kept his chair by the window and his radio on Sunday mornings. She said missing someone is love that has lost its address, so she gave it a new one: to us, to her pupils, to anyone who needed a seat at the table. She asked us to leave every room a little warmer than we found it. We will try, Mum.
Read by Catherine Price, her daughter
Where they rest
St Thomas à Becket churchyard, Widcombe, Bath
Beside Robert, under the yew
The churchyard is open every day. She would want sweet peas, not lilies.
In place of flowers
Give in Eleanor's name
In place of flowers, Eleanor's family asks for gifts to Marie Curie.
You give on Marie Curie's own page. HELAÜLOOM never handles the money.
Memories
What people remember about Eleanor
mmmm lit a candle, and 3 others. mmmm sent flowers, and 3 others. zxcmzxc left a keepsake.
Something they taught you
How to plant sweet peas, how to say sorry first, and how to make a pot of tea last an afternoon.
Something they always said
Leave every room a little warmer than you found it. I think of it every morning.
A small kindness you never forgot
Every Friday she asked how my mother was, by name. Thirty years, she never forgot.
A meal they made
She made the best lemon drizzle in Somerset and always saved the corner piece for me.
She taught me that legacy is not what you leave behind, but who you lift along the way.
Leave a tribute
Remember Eleanor with us
Keep their days