Memorial Service for Baroness Masham held at Westminster Cathedral

Baroness Masham of Ilton Image: UK Parliament

A memorial service was held in Westminster Cathedral on Thursday, 19th October, led by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, for Baroness Sue Masham who died earlier this year.

It was attended by members of her family, colleagues from the House to Lords, friends and members of the many organisations of which she was a president, vice-president or patron - almost 100 organisations altogether.

The eulogy was given by Bart Hellyer DL, international rehab claims adviser, racehorse breeder/owner, past charity chairman, past High Sheriff, Deputy Lieutenant of Rutland.

HRH The Princess Royal, Patron of the Spinal Injuries Association, was represented by Faisal Hussain Esq Chair, Spinal Injuries Association.

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The text of Bart Heller's Eulogy follows:

Your Eminence, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I must start by thanking your Eminence, the Precentor and the staff here at the Cathedral for their help in arranging and organising this service.

Today we remember and celebrate the extraordinary life of Baroness Masham, a remarkable and unique woman, who I have been fortunate to know for the last 50 years. To those who she came to know well, be it duke or dustman, she was simply "Sue". Her pioneering spirit, personal courage, and not being prepared to take no for an answer, have brought about changes in national life to the benefit of many of us.

Her early life, initially as Sue Sinclair, was extensively covered either at her funeral at Masham in March or in the eulogy or obituaries published at the time, as well as her autobiography" The World Walks by". What I take from these are that her husband -to-be, David Cunliffe Lister, then Lord Masham later inheriting the title the Earl of Swinton, proposed on his 21st birthday in 1958; the following day she had her racing accident leading to paraplegia and lifelong wheelchair dependency. Just as significant was the lifelong love and loyalty between them. Armed with this, despite the misgivings of "Society" at the time, they determined to go through with the marriage which took place in 1959.

As a wedding present, soon after leaving hospital, the First Earl and Countess of Swinton built them a house on land outside Masham. This became their home for life designed around Sue's wheelchair needs and a launch pad for her future with David and their two children. Many of us who have known Sue have been made welcome there and enjoyed her hospitality.

In the 1960s, life for disabled people was bleak; life expectancies were short; few had remunerative employment; suitable adapted homes in the community were thin on the ground; most public facilities, be they town halls, hotels, restaurants public buildings or toilets -and dare I say it churches - were not accessible. The environment was invariably hostile, with disabled people rarely seen or heard.

In Yorkshire, Sue's determination started to change such attitudes by demonstrating disabled people were more than that. Armed with her Stoke Mandeville rehab she took up Paralympic sports, such as swimming, archery and table tennis. These led to gold silver and bronze medals at 3 Olympics in the 1960s despite practical difficulties with travel and accommodation - so raising her public profile, and by extension other disabled people.

With this same determination, she started tackling issues in North Yorks such as suitable housing, access to public buildings or parking for disabled. In her local area of Ripon, the local authority were indifferent to disabled parking problems - consequently she, and a paraplegic friend, Pauline Foulds, embarked on a campaign of consistently parking to attract tickets and fines which they always appealed and so clogged up the local parking administration to the extent they simply gave up issuing them until proper parking was organised. Was this her first act of civil disobedience!!

In time this progressed to joining public bodies such as the Aycliffe/Peterlee New Town Corporation, and the local board of prison visitors for Wetherby Young Offenders Institution, and ultimately becoming a significant public figure in North Yorkshire life, in time becoming President of the North Riding Red Cross and Yorkshire Association of the Disabled and a member of the Yorkshire regional Health Authority

Separately with her Scottish farming background, she brought Highland pony breeding to the Yorkshire Dales, winning championships nationwide, raising flocks of rare breed sheep, and bred long haired dachshunds. She also founded the Northern Horse Show held at Wetherby.

All of this came to national attention leading to an invitation from the PM in 1969 to accept a life peerage. Joining the House of Lords as a Cross bencher, without political affiliations, this gave her a platform to raise issues to the benefit of all society. After a few weeks, the opportunity arose to make her maiden speech in support of The Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Bill, moving an amendment to make spinal injury a notifiable condition requiring specialist hospital facilities and treatment.

Over time she took up many issues as varied as Continuing Healthcare, misuse of drugs, HIV/Aids, and the Terence Higgins Trust . She spoke against assisted Dying, compulsory use of seatbelts and the Hunting Act. She was instrumental in setting up the APPG on spinal injury in 2005 and at the time of her death was the longest serving life Member of the House of Lords.

But her most lasting achievement was the creation of the SIA in 1974. In 1973, she asked me, amongst 7 others to join a steering group to create this -my role was to represent "youth" as I recollect! We met in tiny office lent by the Kings Fund Centre. Her vision was clear - to enable SCI people to make the best of their future, be it through improved hospital treatment, counselling, rehabilitation treatment, better wheelchairs, housing, training for re -employment.

In 1974, SIA had no office, staff or facilities, but with Sue's drive and ambition and small grants, these were found and with Sue as Chair SIA was formally constituted.

As the only lawyer on the team, albeit a recently qualified solicitor dealing with property sales, Sue asked me to deal with anything legal which came in with the encouragement "you can do it", to find myself involved in the preparation of personal injury claims for High Court litigation! Because of Sue, I developed an expertise at this and changed my career for life!

Today, SIA has grown out of all recognition since those days, But it is still Sue's ever developing vision, that has been behind this, and now is the heart of SIA's newly launched strategy 2030 - indeed but for her death Sue was involved its launch and working with the current chief executive on introducing it in the House of Lords.

Through her life's work, Baroness Masham has influenced changes in attitudes to and opportunities for so many disabled people. For so many of us, including mine she changed the course of our lives for the better. I could never thank her enough for that.

She will not be forgotten.

Bart Hellyer DL SIA Chair 2005-8