Dorothy Rushworth, teacher and charity worker

Originally from Wath-on-Dearne, Rotherham, she gained her Higher School Certificate at 17 and was given the opportunity to study history at Queen Mary College in London.

But the Blitz caused her relocation to Cambridge, and when she returned to the capital after a year, only part of Queen Mary still stood.

She carried on at Kings College and Birkbeck College, gaining her degree at 20, and going on to gain qualifications in shorthand, typing and book-keeping before completing teacher training in Huddersfield.

She taught at colleges in Maidenhead, York and Barnsley, becoming a senior lecturer. At Barnsley she met a fellow teacher, Charlie, who would become her husband.

The two of them moved to Scarborough in retirement, in 1983, but Dorothy noticed that Charlie’s memory was failing, and a diagnosed of dementia followed.

As his condition worsened, she became his full-time carer. He died at Tree Tops Nursing Home, in 1990.

It was around this time that she and the late Terry Compton, who owned Tree Tops, decided to form a local branch of the Alzheimer’s charity.

She said that having seen what it had done to her husband, she was determined to raise awareness and funds.

She went on to serve as branch chairman, treasurer and secretary, and was instrumental in helping raise hundreds of thousands of pounds over the years.