Ann Patricia Cheshire Archdale was born to Arthur and Annie Pulsford on the 4th May 1928. She had an older sister Jean.
They lived in Exeter and attended St Hilda's School. Pat was a very keen scout and filled her scouting cloak with badges. She took a party of boys to the 7th World Scout Jamboree in Austria as a leader. She also began a lifelong love of Table Tennis.
She completed her Teacher Training in London and her first post was at Two Mile Hill School in Bristol. She also started her Table Tennis Umpire career around this time by passing her County Table Tennis Umpire exam in 1951.
She was one of 103 British Teachers who went on a 1 year Teacher Exchange to US in 1952 when she was 24. She always said she taught in every state in the US. She travelled to the US on the Queen Mary and often played Table Tennis against King Faisal II of Iraq. After staying in New York for several days. The teachers went on to Washington where they were invited to the British Embassy for Tea and also visited President Truman at the White House. Pat was based in Salt Lake City and was presented with a scrap album when she left.
She was obviously a very good table tennis player at the time as there are several newspaper cuttings in her scrapbook of this period listing her as winning various competitions and coming home with 17 trophies. (her husband Bob who also played table tennis, always says he was the better player!) She also participated in several scouting events during her visit.
She met her husband Robert Archdale through Alfred Sports Table Tennis Club in Bristol. They married in 1954 and they remained happily married to the end of her life achieving 64 years of marriage. They celebrated their Golden Wedding by taking a cruise and they received a card from the Queen on their Diamond Anniversary. They lived in Keynsham all their time together.
They had four children Roy, Wendy, Molly and Terry. At home Pat used to make beautifully smocked dresses for the girls and made some memorable costumes for fancy dress competitions. She encouraged the children to play with lego (Terry still does) and both Roy and Molly won prizes for their models. Apparently the prize money was used to buy a pair of Siamese kittens which were quite rare at the time and the cats were really loved. Both Molly and Terry subsequently bought their own siamese cats.
Pat continued Teaching when her children were young. Her youngest daughter Terry remembers being on a blanket under the Teachers Desk when Pat taught at Bath Hill School in Keynsham. Pat also taught at PNEU, Barton Hill, Avon Vale, St Lukes and Hotwells.
She was also involved with Keynsham Scouts and the Girl Guides at this time, as well as keeping up with her table tennis both playing and umpiring.
Although she didn't drink alcohol she often made wine with the berries from the Mulberry tree in the garden at their house in West View Road in Keynsham. This would sit on a high shelf in the breakfast room and every couple of years a bottle or two would explode. The breakfast room was probably the most redecorated room in the house.
Most of the children attended St John's School and Wellsway School in Keynsham and Pat served on the PTA at both schools - being Chairman of the Wellsway PTA for a number of years.
There are six Grandchildren, Tim, Kelly, Mike, Charlotte, Jenny and Alex and one Great Grandchild Oscar.
She became the Headteacher at Radstock Infant School in 1979. A small school with under 40 pupils. By the time she left 12 years later there were over 90 pupils and a waiting list. Each year she made the outfits for the School Christmas Nativity play. All of Pats children remember the evenings she spent sewing strings of beads and gold chain on to gaudy colour velvets, brocades and lurex for her actors. She would scour car boot and jumble sales to buy materials books and toys and other materials for her school. She achieved local fame when she shut the school in a protest against poor cleaning practices which were prevalent at local schools around this time. and again when she had to take up Lollipop Lady duties to help her pupils cross a busy road.
In later life she became interested in orchids and had a large collection. She and Bob both enjoyed gardening and browsing garden centres for unusual plants. They both had their own greenhouses. The driveway of the house would be a mass of daffodils in pots at this time of year.
She became a Director at "scrapstore" an early recycling charitable facility providing materials to be reused especially by Teachers. Her niece Anne, who was also a teacher, has fond memories of visiting the scrapstore with Pat for various recycled materials.
Pat was a regular blood donor and gave well over 100 pints.
She was a volunteer helper in the St Peters Hospice Shop in Knowle.
Overall she was a very progressive, intelligent and talented lady full of enthusiasm and joie de vie.