South Yorkshire Times, November 11th 1944

Miss B. C. Deeks

Sudden Death of Wath G. S. Senior Mistress

Wath-on-Dearne, the Grammar School and Old Wathonians Association in particular, has sustained a great loss by the death which occurred suddenly in the early hours of Friday morning of Miss Beatrice Caroline Deeks, Church House, Wath, who for the last 18 years had been senior mistress of Wath Grammar School.  She was 64.  Miss Deeks had not enjoyed good health for some time but was at school on Monday and Tuesday of last week.

A native of Norwich, she was trained at University College, Aberystwyth, and took a London B.A. degree in History and M.A. degree in Education. She also held the Diploma in Pedagogy of London and Oxford.

Miss Deeks came to Wath in September 1926, some three years after the school had been opened.  She was previously headmistress she made valuable contribution to the work and social life of the scholars and was a staunch friend and helper to hundreds of old boys and old girls. Her skill as a producer and director had been evident for a number of years in the senior Literacy Society plays, inaugurated in the time of the school’s first headmaster Mr. A. T. L. Grear and for which Miss Deeks had been responsible under the leadership of Mr. J. Ritchie. She was in charge of the school string orchestra which provided incidental music for the performances and the music of the School Song was composed by her.

For many years she was vice-president of the Old Wathonians’ Association and took an active interest in its activities, especially during the war in the Comforts Fund Section.  She will be remembered with affection by the large number of old boys and girls with the Forces from whom she received many letters, gifts from abroad and calls when they were on leave.

Although Miss Deeks’ interest was centred around the school and its old students, she took a prominent part in the social and cultural life of Wath where she was president of the British Guild of Women, a member of the Youth Council, and Chairman of the Girls’ Training Corps Advisory Committee.  She had travelled extensively in Europe and frequently addressed local societies on her visits abroad and other subjects, and was a teacher for the Ministry of Information.

Her only surviving relative, a sister, is married to an Italian and has been in Italy throughout the war.  Her sister’s husband was formerly Press Attaché for many years to the Italian Embassy in London.