A WOMAN who spent most of her working life employed in factories has left a fortune of almost £100,000 to be split between the Dilke and Lydney hospitals.
Miss Rosie Phoebe Phipps, of Hillandale, Whitecroft, allocated the money in her will to the Friends of Lydney Hospital and Friends of the Dilke.
Miss Phipps' sole executor, Gerald Martin of Pillowell, last week presented the Dilke Friends with their half of the money and the residue was presented to Friends of Lydney and District Hospital on Sunday.
Mr Martin, whose wife was related to Miss Phipps' father, told the Review: "She was a single woman who spent her life working in factories, including Rotol during the war. She had no parents left and there is no family, except some cousins and a few other relations." In later years she worked as a packer at Whitecroft pin factory. She died last December aged 79.
Both Miss Phipps – known locally as Rosie – and her father were keen travellers, and following his death she continued to travel far and wide alone, including a long stay in Australia.
The Dilke presentation was made to Friends chairman Ruth Norman, treasurer George Coates, and hospital manager Jeanette Giles.
Mrs Norman said: "The money is very welcome and quite unexpected. We have spent quite heavily on equipment for the hospital over the past two years and our funds had been getting quite low.
"We know very little about Miss Phipps except that her father was a patient at the Dilke and Lydney and she herself went to Lydney. It is a very kind, very generous gift."