Doreen has been a great supporter of my painting, and will be sorely missed at my next exhibition!
Pete and I are off to the Gower for a few days in June and I know that she shared a love of the Rhossili Bay area.
She was a good friend to my mother, Joan, and sister Liz , visiting them regularly in Canterbury.
She often talked of Ted and her 2 grand-children,and was very proud of them!
I have only just realised we shared the same family middle name, Iredale; she was very excited to learn of our discovery of the Ida Iredale journal and wrote enthusiastically on receiving my transcription.
Great memories!

Feeling great sadness and shock, today that a close friend and mentor has died , suddenly.

R.I.P. Doreen Iredale Markam 1937 - April 2021

Doreen was my mentor and trainer, when I started working, as a fresh faced lectrice, at the University of Nanterre, Paris aged 21, in 1976.

She helped train all us new graduates to teach English language including phonetics, English literature to unsuspecting French students studying for equivalent BA and MA degrees in English. Learning phonetics was great fun! We weren't the best of students..quite mischievous, in fact.. We called her Doreen with a schwa (phonetic sound name).She also taught us how to teach in the language laboratory.

She was an indomitable person.. very beady eyes, a lot of people were scared of her .....brilliant teacher, linguist, independent, intellectual, feisty, lively, questioning about the status quo, loved literature, loved people, eating out, sampling the many different cuisines in Paris, heated discussions about politics, loved visiting art galleries, walking, member of the RSPB and WWF, a doer, questioned everything.... but above all she had a twinkly sense of humour, was very kind and did not suffer fools gladly . Several of us became friends with her.

For me, it was particularly nice because I discovered that although, she had been born in Cardiff, which you would never have known from her crisp English accent, she grew up not very far from my family home in The Avenue , St Paul's Cray, Kent.

I can safely say, she was one of the most important female influences, on my life. We became good friends but lost touch in later years, as she moved back to Leicester

.However, I am pleased ,we made contact again just before lockdown last March. She was still the same person.Still as busy, lively, questioning and lovely , getting involved in all kinds of causes.

I thought she would go on ,forever,...and, I feel so sad she is not there , anymore...

That lovely memory of being young in Paris has been dented for a while but, I will always remember her.

For Doreen Markam ..you taught me so much.

Sue Turner ne Fellingham Nanterre University 1976 - 1978

I had the absolute privilege of working with Doreen with the RSPB. Such a force for good and bursting with kindness. It's because of people like Doreen that nature has a fighting chance. xxx

What a shock to lose her so suddenly. She was a special person, wasn't she? She was always pleasant and intelligent, and with such a range of talents, you could always have an interesting conversation with her. And always ready to do anything to help the Nottingham RSPB group - and wildlife generally.
We will all miss her.
Rab and Jan

I have known Doreen since 1980 , she was working in France at the time , but visited London regularly. I did her hair.
I soon got to know of her many interests and we became friends .
I left London but I had her address and we always sent cards at Christmas .
Then six years ago Doreen was , putting RSPB collection boxes in The Pudding Pantry , my sons restaurant , my son talked to her and our friendship was rekindled and Our passion for wildlife , and in particular birds took us regularly to nature reserves around the area . We talked endlessly about conservation , American politics , world travel and of course her family , whom she loves deeply .
She was a lovely friend and I will miss her so much , fly free x x x

I met Doreen in 2019 on a holiday in Umbria. We got on well, met up to see an exhibition just before the pandemic and kept in touch by email thereafter. I can see from the tributes here that Doreen had a talent for making friends and, although I only knew her for a short while, I feel sad that I have lost a good friend.

I had the privilege to travel with Doreen on over 40 trips, worldwide, from the late 1990s to 2020. I was deeply saddened to hear the news of her passing away and I am sure she will be sorely missed by all those lucky enough to know her.

I met Doreen on a Ramblers Holiday in Majorca more than 20 years ago, when we discovered we both wanted to walk the long distance Offa’s Dyke path. We met up the next year to complete the shorter Ridgeway, and then almost every year since then to do a trail or -more recently - shorter walks from a base. On these walks and on our weekly phone calls in between, Doreen spoke much of Ted and her grandchildren and was looking forward to visiting them as soon as restrictions allowed. Doreen loved the sea and was planning to come down to the south coast next month. If I can I will post a photo of her on the beach at the end of the Coast to Coast walk. Doreen kept her lively mind as well as her body active, and often inspired me to listen or watch something of interest. I will greatly miss her.

I am so sorry for your loss. Very shocked too as Doreen was one of my gym friends and was always so fit and happy about all the wonderful trips she went on. She talked often about you and the children and looked forward to going to see you all. She was on zoom with our gym group recently. So sad x

Con mucha tristeza recibo esta noticia. Mi querida amiga de tantas luchas ha partido a las estrellas. Inolvidable son sus cartas que reci en la cárcel siendo una presa política en Chile, nos conocimos físicamente en su último viaje a estas tierras. Extrañare sus email y noticias desde Inglaterra.
Mis abrazos a la distancia a su hijo, nietos y nuera. Que nuestros ancestros guíen el camino de Doreen.
Abrazos. Giovanna.