Village Society member no.2 – and active volunteer until just a few years ago – Inger Eade (nee Hermansen), has died aged 93. Ex Society chair Max Parish shares their tribute to a much valued village resident and friend.
Inger was born in Nakskov, a picturesque medieval town on the island of Lolland, in Southern Denmark. The eldest of three children, with two younger brothers, her father was the business manager for the local bank. The island, at the time, being flat, counted agriculture and shipbuilding as its main industries. Mr Hermansen was born in northern Germany and moved to Denmark which was neutral in the First World War. However, under the Treaty of Versailles, in 1920 part of the border with Germany became Danish after a referendum. Inger’s mother came from a line of Danish brick makers and builders, whose success contributed to making the family affluent.
Inger was seven years old when the Germans invaded in 1940, but it was only in 1943 that they took over complete control of running Denmark. As a result of the invasion the military commandeered the local school as its headquarters, only leaving one classroom to remain for education. Three separate classes by age were then established. One class met in the morning, one late morning and the third in the afternoon. Her father’s German status meant hiding all the German books and keeping a low profile to avoid any chance of being forcefully conscripted.
Copenhagen to Cambridge
On leaving school she moved to Copenhagen for work and lived with her grandmother there. Attending evening secretarial classes, her ability and industry helped her prosper. One of the firms she worked for was the Great Northern Telegraph Company (Det Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab A/S) which operated international cables including through Russia to Asia. Whilst there she learned Russian to converse with their customers.
On the social side, she met a British aeronautical engineer John Deakin, who was on holiday in Denmark. He came back to visit several times to see Inger and eventually they married in 1957 and she moved to England. First to Coventry, then to Fareham near Portsmouth and finally to Cambridge. Upon their divorce, Inger became Secretary/PA to Professor Linnett, the Master of Sidney Sussex College. She tells the story of when the Danish Queen Margrethe and her husband Prince Henrik, were visiting the then Cambridge Vice-Chancellor Linnett in 1975 and the Prince came and sat on her desk to talk to her. Inger was very proud of this.
Inger and future husband Alan Eade, both then single, were introduced at a dinner party though Alan maintained that they both met whilst sailing flying 15’s on Grafham Water. Alan recollected that he needed a crewman, Inger was tall and she could swim. So, he asked her to crew for him. Not the best chat up line invented, but they became a couple and eventually married in 1976 and she moved to Brook House. Fond of travel, as well as sailing, they took their motor home on many trips across Europe and their sailing adventures continued well into their 80’s. She also had a small cottage in Norfolk where the two of them could get away for a break when needed.
Active and involved
Inger joined the Village Society when it started up in 1979 and was member number two. Her husband Alan chaired the Society for 23 years up until 2012. Inger was sadly widowed in 2019, with Alan passing away just days after his 90th birthday.
Brought up to value health through fitness, her involvement in the community included running fitness classes. She became the long-term secretary of the Feast Committee and the Village Society’s Environmental Group and was, for a time, secretary for Open Gardens. Being computer competent she was also able to support all Alan’s interests and voluntary commitments. Her own unsung commitment to the community extended to the Bus Shelter next to the house, which she adopted. Often seen there with mop and bucket, dustpan and brush cleaning up the occasional Saturday night excesses and removing any detritus and graffiti deposited there!
As she got older, and despite being diagnosed with curvature of the spine, she continued to maintain her fitness. Even both hip replacements didn’t slow her down and the doctor had to warn her that she needed to exercise less whilst recovering to avoid damaging her new hip. She also sadly had the misfortune to get her foot crushed by a car as she crossed the Tesco Car Park access with her rollator one evening. But luckily, after an extensive recovery period, only lost a toe.
Friendship and community spirit
As her world became smaller, her daily routine was to have lunch at the nearby St. Andrew’s Centre café and with it came the opportunity to meet people. She was immensely grateful to the staff who helped her; getting her across the two busy roads and on occasions delivering meals to her house when she was unable to get out.
Inger lived in Histon for nearly 50 years and often mentioned how lucky she was to live in a village with such a friendly community spirit.
A private cremation will take place with family in Norfolk where Inger spent the last few weeks of her life in a care home in Holt. HI HUB sends its thanks to Max Parish and Histon & Impington Village Society for sharing with us their tribute to Inger.
It has been an honour to have been neighbours and friends of Inger for 27 years. She and her husband Alan were devoted to the village of Histon and worked hard for the community they loved. They will be sorely missed.