Family and friends came together to celebrate the life of long-serving charity worker Patricia ‘Pat’ Webster after a private cremation.

Pat and her husband Philip, who wed in 1952, initially setting up home in Barnet where their two children were born, moved to St Albans in 1968.

She very soon became involved with various local organisations, many of which spent a great deal of time and effort in raising funds. One such was the St Albans branch of the national charity Arthritis Research Campaign in the mid 1980s when the late Mrs Margaret Arnold was at the helm.

Mrs Arnold built an enthusiastic and hard-working team of dedicated supporters raising funds through social evenings, house-to-house collections and the annual St Albans Celebrity Golf Day at Batchwood which raised around £4,000 each year.

The St Albans branch has since folded but during its existence, it raised close to £300,000.

Pat was renowned for her “I can do that” attitude and was, for a time, a governor of Garden Fields School. She took on the case of a girl who, with two other pupils, did not get their first-choice secondary school, St Albans Girls (STAGS) but were given places at the then Francis Bacon School nearly three miles from their home.

Although County Hall told her the decision had been made and irrevocable, she managed to get a letter direct to Sir Keith Joseph, Education Secretary at the time, and within days she was told that three places had unexpectedly become available at STAGS and were being allocated to the Garden Fields girls.

Pat was also a keen bridge player and an early member and later chairman of the St Albans Conservative Bridge Club which is still thriving.

Her husband Philip said the family have been inundated with messages of sympathy, many of which referred to her kindness and caring attitude.

The regard in which she was held could be summarised by one tribute, he added, which read: “I will always remember Pat for her great kindness. The world would be a better place if there were more like her.”