Death of former teacher Iris Swain, aged 86

A former Wolverhampton teacher and charity fundraiser has died, aged 86.

Victoria Swain, who was more commonly known as Iris, spent decades helping to raise money and awareness of osteoporosis after she was diagnosed with the bone condition herself.

She also taught hundreds of pupils from across the Black Country as a deputy headteacher at Wolverhampton's Colton Hills Community School and before that headteacher at Graiseley Secondary School.

Mrs Swain, whose brother Brian was a former deacon at St Thomas Of Canterbury Roman Catholic Church in Tettenhall, died from natural causes on Friday, June 17.

She spent the last two decades raising funds and awareness on behalf of the National Osteoporosis Society. Today, Nina Copping, from the society, said Mrs Swain would be "sadly missed".

Former teaching colleague and close friend Keith Berry, MBE, of York Avenue, Finchfield, described Mrs Swain as a "lovely woman".

"She was very, very active and focused in the sense that she wanted her work to be of the highest standard at all times," said 70-year-old Mr Berry. "She would always give 100 per cent for whatever the cause was that she was involved in.

"In her early days she taught PE but then she went on to teach shorthand and typing at a time when those two things were key skills. She was instrumental in building up that area at Colton Hills so she was a pioneer in that regard."

During her teaching career, Mrs Swain was a senior manager at Colton Hills Community School, which was formed with the amalgamation of Graiseley Secondary School, Penn Secondary School and Wolverhampton Municipal Grammar School.

She worked there for about 20 years before retiring in the 1980s.

Mr Berry said Mrs Swain was married to Arthur Swain and later separated. He died in 1999 and the couple had no children.

Mrs Swain's funeral will be held at St Thomas Of Canterbury Roman Catholic Church in Tettenhall on Friday, July 8, from 12.30pm.