Tribute paid to well-known Cumbrian Joan Brotherton who sadly died

Joan Brotherton died at the age of 85 on Christmas Day last year.

She was well known throughout Carlisle, Dalston, and North and West Cumbria broadly, particularly in her senior role within Lime House School in Dalston.

Her son, Dale Brotherton, described her success-filled life: “She was born in 1937 in Northumberland.

“She was diagnosed with polio at the age of ten so she lost the ability to use her legs.

“In those days, unfortunately, she had to go through enormous adversity.

“At 21, she became a director of the Venture Transport Company, it was the biggest private bus public service company in the world at the time.

“Although it was private, they ran public services to bus stops and had 250 buses.

“The company was set up by her father, she resided in Northumberland until 1974 when she moved over to Cumbria with her father.

“The Venture Transport Company was nationalised in 1970, and it became part of Northern Transport.

“She then moved to Appleby in retirement with her father, and in 1983, she joined him in the first of its kind in the country, it was parents buying a public school, which was Lime House School in Dalston.

“It was at the point of closure at that point and had 125 pupils.

Lime House School (Image: NQ)

“She was a governor there while her dad ran it, and eventually Brookfield school in Wigton was bought and became a sister school to Lime House along with a school in Scotland, Rickerby House.

“Part of Venture Transport was Venture Taxis, which was eventually sold to Bobby Moncur, who would eventually become the manager of Carlisle United.”

Dale said she was one of the first disabled people in the country to learn how to drive by using hand controls in the 60s.

Dale also spoke of her strength, and her being a positive role model in his and his family’s life: “She was immensely strong, despite the drawback she had.

“She had an enormous zest for life, she did anything and was very strong willed.

“The amount of cards and messages we’ve had all describe the determination she had throughout her life is amazing, she shone through it all and continued to be an inspiration to everybody.

Dale, who was chairman of Workington Reds for many years, said she always used to listen to the radio every Saturday afternoon to see how they were getting on.

Dale Brotherton (Image: NQ)

An avid sports fan, she would often converse with the then Partick Thistle manager Davie McParland, who said to Dale that he loved speaking to her on the phone, and she actually knew more about football than Dale.

Her loss will be a big one for her community, and Dale said funeral arrangements are yet to be made.

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