Sandra Bates (1950-2024)

 I am very sorry to announce the death of Sandra Bates, a very keen member of the Swinfield Genealogy & DNA Group. She passed away on 3^rd March 2024 following a short stay in hospital after dealing with a long-term condition. 

Allan & Sandra at Ashby de la Zouch in 2010  

Sandra was born in 1950 in the Hammersmith area of London as the older of the two children of Roger and Bettyne Bates. She leaves a brother Paul and a partner Allan. 

Her mother (1921-2002) was the daughter of Albert Arthur Summers (1898-1976) and Frances Minnie (1897-1984) whose maiden surname was Swinfield. Surprisingly, on her birth certificate, Frances’s mother was recorded as Ellen Paddison, a domestic servant who lived and worked at Willington in Derbyshire. By the date of the 1901 census, her 4 year-old child was living at Derby Road in Willington recorded as the daughter of Alfred Swinfield (1868-1919), a general labourer, and his wife Theresa or Thirza. That couple had married in 1893 in the parish church and, after they had lost their only child Daisy as a baby, they appear to have “adopted” the young Frances. As such, she and her descendants including Sandra and Paul have become part of Swinfield Family 5 & 2.

 

Alfred Swinfield was the son of Joseph Swinfield (1843-1905) and his wife Hannah Riley, who had married at Alrewas in Staffordshire in 1865. He was yet another grandchild of Thomas Brown, a life-long bachelor, by Sarah Swinfield nee Hewitt, the estranged wife of Thomas Swinfield (1808-1893) who left his “family” behind to emigrate to America in 1854. So Sandra was, on paper, my 3^rd cousin once removed. A very complicated and certainly not genetic relationship!  

 

Sandra was educated at Keynsham near Bristol, later studying microbiology at Cardiff University and graduating with an M.Sc. in Brewing Technology from Birmingham University. She certainly put her education towards what was clearly to become a vocation in the brewing industry. Working for Courage and later Harp Lager, she took on the Eight Bells pub at Alton, Hampshire, and then worked for Ushers at Trowbridge in Wiltshire. Eventually she joined Wadworth’s in Devizes, where she became part of the team that brews her own favourite beer, the famous 6X. Those who enjoy real ale should be very grateful to her.  

 

Ashby de la Zouch - 11 September 2010 

I first corresponded by email with Sandra back in late in 2008 when she lived at Melksham in Wiltshire and introduced herself as the granddaughter of Frances Swinfield. We have been in regular contact ever since discussing the family’s history and collaborating on research. When she decided to hold a Bates, Rowland and Eyre family history “get-together” for her close relatives at Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire on 11^th September 2010, Di and I were invited to be there to represent the Swinfields.

 

First Swinfield Gathering - September 2013

That meeting of her part of the family lead to the first Swinfield Gathering at the Sir John Moore Foundation, Appleby Magna, another Swinfield ancestral parish in Leicestershire, on 22^nd September 2013. Sandra found the venue and organised the day whilst her partner, Allan Francis, was appointed the photographer.  

 

Second Swinfield Gathering - September 2015 

Two years later, the event was expanded and the second Swinfield Gathering took place at the George Ward Centre in her new home village of Barwell, Leicestershire, on 12^th September 2015. Once again, Sandra booked the venue and played a major part in organising the event. She even scheduled her daily dog-walking routes to pass as many Swinfield homes as possible to distribute leaflets, publicising the day and encouraging attendees to be there!

 

Later in her genealogical research, Sandra became involved in DNA testing to try to answer long standing questions and relationships in her family history. She ran a local U3A group near her home in Barwell and was a member of the Leicestershire & Rutland Family History Society.

 

I will be very forever grateful to Sandra for all her input, help and support and the effort that added so much to making the gatherings such a success and bringing us Swinfield cousins together. Only in January this year, we talked about holding yet another English Gathering later in 2024. Sadly now Sandra will not be there to see it.