Barbro Loader obituary

My friend Barbro Loader, who has died of cancer aged 67, had a long and distinguished career in social work.

She was the daughter of farmers, Anna and Sven Eskilsson, and grew up in Vastanavagen, a village in Skåne, southern Sweden. Aged 20 she volunteered for a children’s vaccination project for six months in Nigeria. Then she studied social work at Lund University, and as part of her course did a practice placement at Dingleton hospital, a therapeutic community in the Scottish Borders. There she met Peter Loader, a young doctor in training. They married in 1973 and had two children, Joe and Sarah. They settled in London, where Barbro worked with Islington Family Service Unit, and later at Pentonville prison and St Charles hospital.