My twin sister, Eleanor Hards, who has died aged 73, worked for a decade as a pharmacist at the Christie hospital in Manchester and then in retail pharmacy in Manchester, Lincolnshire and Oxfordshire. After moving in 1987 to what she called the People’s Republic of Didcot, Eleanor was also active in Labour politics. In May 1995 both Eleanor and her husband, Nick, were elected Labour town and district councillors, Eleanor specialising in housing and public health; she stood down as a district councillor in May 2019.
Born in Lincoln, she was the daughter of John Jones, a vicar and hospital chaplain, and Janet (nee Roberts), a former nurse and later a health visitor. Our father liked to tell the story of how, in July 1951, he had to visit the local pram shop to cancel his order. Having milked the sympathy of the shop assistant, he gleefully asked for a twin pram instead, as Eleanor and I had arrived, premature and one of us unexpected, and were baptised hurriedly and named after our grandmothers.
Our first 13 years were spent in a chilly Victorian gothic vicarage in Lincoln; in 1964 Dad moved to a quieter parish in Horbling, near the Fens. At Kesteven and Sleaford high school, Eleanor and I were in the same class and studied the same subjects, diverging only in the lower sixth when Eleanor decided to study pharmacy. The year of 1969 saw great upheavals: Dad had to retire and died later that year, our family moved to north Lincolnshire, and Eleanor and I left for different universities.
Studying pharmacy at Manchester University, Eleanor met Nick Hards in 1971 at the university chaplaincy and their friendship blossomed, particularly during a holiday in France and Belgium. They married in 1975.
Nick and Eleanor shared many interests besides politics, such as their local church, gardening, classical music and steam locomotives – the Great Western Society is based in Didcot. They also homed many rescue cats, the latest of which, Bob, was a great comfort when Eleanor became seriously unwell in 2022, and was diagnosed with advanced cancer.
She is survived by Nick, and by me.
