Merial Flux 1965-2024

In memory of Meriel, who died suddenly on Boxing Day 2024.

Meriel was born in Gravesend, Kent, in 1965, daughter of Jim and Jean Flux, and sister of Rowena. Owing to her father’s work for a multinational company, she grew up multi-lingual, the family having been based in the UK, Germany, Canada, Morocco and Switzerland.

She started school in Canada, before going to boarding school, firstly at Maltman’s Green and then Malvern Girls’ School, which she enjoyed. From there she then went on to train as a nurse at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, where she loved both the work and the social life, including the monthly cocktail evening.

After completing her training, she took a job at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital and lived in Kidlington. She then took a position with the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, based at Crawley hospital, eventually becoming the Trust’s Manual Handling and Health and Safety lead, as well as a Royal College of Nursing rep.

Meriel moved to Deddington when she retired in 2017 and quickly involved herself in village life, being an active church member and, for a time, a churchwarden.

She served as a trustee for the Friends of Deddington Library, took a leading role in the Deddington Craft Group, involved herself in the village panto by making costumes for the Deddington Players where she was a beloved member of the ‘panto family’. She was also a keen participant in the Photographic Society, organising workshops and photoshoots as well as being membership secretary.

Meriel was a great animal lover and adored her many cats and dogs throughout her life. Family and friends (furry and non-furry) were all close to her heart.

Meriel loved to experiment with food and drink, preferably to gourmet standard, and arts and crafts were also a major love, from glass etching, to sewing, and a myriad of crafting skills in between, Meriel excelled.

Dressing up for fancy dress parties, murder mystery events and playing Scrabble were particularly enjoyed too.

Meriel never married but was an active godmother and a devoted aunt. She always valued her friends highly and could be ridiculously generous. She was her own quirky person and lived her unique life to the full.

Her personality reflected further in her choice of music for her funeral service, asking the congregation to wear bright colours and providing Marmite sandwiches for her wake!

The Friends of Deddington Library (FoDL) were saddened and shocked by her sudden death. She was a fervent reader and loved the village library that she visited so often.

Meriel left FoDL a wonderful legacy, not only her complete collection of books that we were instructed to sell to raise money for the library, which we did, and benefitted hugely, for which we’re incredibly grateful. Her support, friendship and hard work in helping to keep our village library open and free for all to use were invaluable.

She will be sorely missed by us all.