My mother, Nora Tomlinson, who has died aged 77, was a lifelong educator of both herself and other people, and a passionate believer in fighting injustice and inequality.
The only daughter of Edward Saunders, a watchmaker, and Evelyn (nee Innis), a teacher, Nora was born in Stoke-on-Trent but moved to Coventry when she was a toddler. While studying English literature at the women-only Westfield College, north London, she met my father, Barry Tomlinson, who was studying aeronautical engineering at Imperial College. They married in 1961 and initially lived in Farnborough, Hampshire, with Nora beginning her teaching career at France Hill school in nearby Camberley. Eventually, however, they settled in Bedford in 1965, when Barry went to work at RAF Thurleigh.
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