Draft:Barbara Siddall

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Barbara Siddall (born Barbara Sheila Thorogood 26th February 1932 - 3rd December 2021) was a English actor, Transpersonal Counsellor, Psychotherapist, Yoga teacher and Healer. She was best known for her work at Penny Brohn UK, formerly known as the Bristol Cancer Help Centre (BCHC), Britain's only cancer centre to emphasize the larger care of the patient (emotional, mental, spiritual, etc.) beyond their physical conditions.

Early Life

Siddall was the daughter of Frederick George Thorogood, Personal aide-de-camp to Lord Louis Mountbatten 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and was born in Malta while her father was stationed there with the Mountbatten family. She was christened at St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Valletta, Lord Lois and Edwina Mountbatten were her Godparents. She was always very proud of her fathers connection with the Mountbatten family, before Siddall died she was shown a short film in which her father played a Valet in the Charlie Chaplin film Nice and Friendly, this came about because the Mountbattens were great fans and it was a gift to them from Chaplin, filmed on their honeymoon. The family moved back to the England in 1937 and settled in Harrow, Greater London, where her father started work at Buckingham Palace as a Page of the Presence for the royal Household and her mother Winifred, worked for London Transport. After attending school in Harrow, Siddall perused her love of acting and went on tour around the UK with a theatre and dance group when she was just 15 years old. She later attended RADA to formalise her training.

Family

Siddall met her future husband, John Sddall while she was working in a department store in Harrow and they married in 1949. They had 3 sons, Nickolas, Thomas and Daniel, and as the family grew, they moved to Bushey village in Hertfordshire. Her husband, although earlier training as an Architect, then started work in the film industry as an Art Director, Because of her husbands connection with the film industry and her acting training, she was cast in the film Kidnapped staring Michael Caine and Trevor Howard. During this early period in Bushey, she also developed her interest in alternative therapies, yoga and healing.

Early Career

It was when Siddall moved to Bushey that she started her interest in Yoga and alternative therapies and The New Age, and at a very early Wrekin Trust conference in 1971, she met Sir George Trevelyan, who was to be a major influence in her life. Siddall was to become a life long member of the trust, attending many of their pilgrimages around England and Europe as a student and tutor..

Career

Through connections she became great friends with C. Maxwell Cade, and Geoffrey Blundell who pioneered the invention of the Mind Mirror, a machine that could display measurable EEG states on the brain. Using her developing techniques of relaxation and meditation, Siddall became involved in the Bristol Cancer Help Centre and joined the centre as head therapist in the early 1980s. She helped the centre through many early struggles and its recovery into what is now a thriving centre providing alternative holistic treatments for people with cancer.

Siddall went on to lead meditation retreats with the Rev Peter Dewey, dream healing pilgrimages in Greece "in the footsteps of Asclepius" and pilgrimages for the Gatekeeper trust of which she is a trustee.

She joined the Francis Bacon Research Trust working with Peter and Sarah Dawkins which involved healing work and the esoteric study of Shakespeare

But her main work continued to be in the complementary field of cancer as a transpersonal psychotherapist and counsellor, drawing from her skills as a yoga teacher, healer, teacher of meditation , and altered states of consciousness.

Siddall continued her work at the cancer centre in Bristol for over 20 years, later leading Introductory and Retreat Days at Breast Cancer Haven in Fulham and Hereford. After retiring from the centres, she continued her work from home providing mediation, counselling and bereavement support to those in need.

Death

Barbara Siddall died in hospital in Watford, Hertfordshire UK on Dec 3rd 2021.