Former teacher, newspaper correspondent and president of her local Women’s Institute Anne Douglas has died at the age of 62.

Described as ‘compassionate, caring and selfless,’ Anne passed away on July 22 following a brave five-year battle against cancer that she fought with great dignity while enjoying village life in Crosthwaite, near Bowness, in her final few years.

She was born in Haydock, Lancashire, and attended Notre Dame Catholic Grammar School in the village before qualifying as a teacher at Notre Dame College in Liverpool.

She worked in education for 35 years. Her last permanent role was at Brayton High School (now Brayton Academy) in Selby, where she was head of the special needs unit.

She was comfortable with teaching children from every background and any age group, with many of her pupils finding her to be an inspirational figure.

Anne and her family then spent ten years living in Manchester before buying a house in Crosthwaite in 2013, following a long-standing love of visiting the Lake District.

They moved there permanently in 2015 and she threw herself into the community, becoming president of its WI, a trustee of the village hall and a multiple first-prize winner for her craft work, particularly knitwear, at the Westmorland Show.

As well as knitting, she put together designs for the WI’s various shows, led their craft team for the past three years and performed ‘irreverent, witty’ poems every week.

Anne was a lifelong fan of St Helens RLFC and had a love for daytime radio - once being jokingly accused of being a ‘stalker’ by Radcliffe and Maconie due to amount of times she got in contact, while she had a ‘confession’ read out by Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 2.

In the last three years of her life, Anne was the contributor of local news from Crosthwaite for The Westmorland Gazette, not once missing a deadline, no matter where she was or how she was feeling.

She leaves behind her husband Martin, brothers Michael and Mark, children Sarah, Daniel and Rebecca and grandchildren Noah, George, Harry, Betty and Dakota.