A wartime romance brought Dorothy Alexander to England after meeting her future husband at a forces' canteen in Canada. The chance encounter came at the YMCA in Montreal, the town to where her parents had emigrated in 1912. Ron Alexander was serving with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War of 1939-45 and on his return to England, Dorothy came with him and they were married in October 1946 and set up home at Swindon, Wiltshire, where her husband's family lived.

Ron worked for the railways and after several postings around the country, they moved to Bourne in 1971 when he became actively involved in local council work, being elected mayor in 1977-78 with Dorothy as his mayoress and it was her year in office that became the catalyst for her later voluntary work.

Youth facilities in Bourne were beginning to expand and she was invited to become a member of the Friends of Bourne Youth Club, the founding organisation of the management committee of which she was first secretary and then in 1986, she was elected chairman, a role which she continued until 2013.

Age has been no barrier to the work in hand and when asked if anyone had ever suggested such a thing she says defiantly: “They wouldn’t have dared!”

Dorothy also has a married son, Michael, a daughter, Julie, and four grandsons, and always stressed that as a mother and grandmother, she was perfectly in tune with the youth of today and kept abreast of affairs through regular visits to the youth club, always on the lookout for new opportunities to add to its busy weekly schedules and so bring additional interests for the town’s teenagers to enjoy.

She was also the long-running chairman for 31 years of the Bourne Tory Ladies Tea Club, formed in 1952 but sadly folded in 2010 because of a declining membership. In earlier years, she was also active with many other organisations, notably as secretary and chairman of the Bourne Centre Women's Institute, the Meals on Wheels service and the trolley shop at the Digby Court retirement home.

Dorothy finally retired from voluntary work in 2013 and in 2016, she became the oldest person in Bourne to be honoured after receiving a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year Honours List for services to the community at the age of 94. The award recognised her work as a key figure in the local branch of the Women’s Institute and the Meals of Wheels service and also for her role with the youth of the town, helping found the Bourne Youth Centre where she became chairman of the management committee from 1986 until 2013.

Dorothy Alexander received her medal and certificate from the Lord Lieutenant pf Lincolnshire, Tony Worth, during a reception for friends and relatives held at the Bourne Youth Centre on Monday 6th June 2016.

REVISED JUNE 2016

See also

Ron Alexander     Bourne Tory Ladies Tea Club