Mother and documentary star;
Born: July 14, 1923; Died: October 15, 2011.
ETHEL Bourne, who has died aged 88, became well known late in life because of a film made about her and the impact Alzheimer's disease was having on her life. The documentary was made by her film-maker daughter, Sue, and was called Mum and Me. It went on to win awards and generate controversy in its wake.
She was born in Aberdeen to Alexander and Florence, the eldest of three children and, after school began working in a bank. She was in her late teens when she met and fell in love with John Bourne, a civil servant from London who had been posted to Aberdeen.
When she was 22 they married in Aberdeen and moved to London where they lived for the next decade. One year after daughter Sue was born they moved to Ayr where the Bournes would spend the rest of their lives. She did voluntary and charity work and was the long-term secretary of the Save the Children Fund.
When her husband died Mrs bourne was bereft and growing confusion led eventually to a diagnosis of Alzheimer's.
Sue, an only child, spent a decade travelling up and down from London every month to see her mother but carers were required, eventually every day.
The decision was made that she would have to go into residential care and in July 2001 she went into Ayr's Rozelle Nursing Home.
It was at this time her daughter and grand-daughter Holly began filming their time with her.
Three years later, with nearly 100 tapes of material, they had the makings of the documentary Mum and Me.
The film was commissioned by BBC Scotland and shown on network BBC 1 in May 2008. An unapologetically personal account of a descent into dementia, it captured the pathos, despair and unexpected humour to be found there.
Despite claims it was intrusive, the film was nominated for awards and won several, including a prestigious Mental Health Media Award.
In a particularly poignant moment in the film Mrs Bourne looks at the wall of family photos and says to her daughter: "I talk to my Dad a lot." Sue tells her that the man she talks to is not her father but John, her husband of nearly 50 years. With great comic timing, Mrs Bourne paused, looked again and with a peel of laughter said: "That's why he is so familiar!"
Ethel Bourne died in Rozelle Nursing Home in Ayr, which had been her home for the last seven years of her life.
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