Anne Elizabeth Harris (28 Dec 1954 - 29 Dec 2019)

In loving memory of Anne Elizabeth Harris who sadly passed away on 29th December 2019.

As we come to terms with Anne's sudden death it has been a real comfort and joy to join up all the jigsaw pieces of her packed life and to appreciate how many people she has positively impacted. She has some wonderful scrap books from over the years, showing not only her family but a vast variety friends and neighbours joining her on activities and holidays which show her joy for life. We have learned about the various clubs she is a member of including the craft club she loved so much and the choirs she was in. It's also very clear and to be honest a surprise how important her faith was to her, something she never imposed on us so we never understood how important it was.

Anne was associated with a number of charities and made a huge difference to many people and in particular children, this made it very hard to identify just one to ask for donations to, hopefully we have got it right.

Then we find out about her wonderful career, how this little lady, who had a times been locked in a cupboard at school for being to quiet is really tough, didn't let things go and fought for the right answer not the easiest one. Not accepting "that will do" and using objective focus to get people what they need.

A big part of Anne's life was her career and she has many friends built up through work. Below is a biography showing some of great work she did.

Anne was a long standing expert witness and is well regarded within the medico-legal sector. She had over 40 years of clinical experience working mainly with clients with complex neurological and orthopaedic injuries, within a hospital setting, child development centres, special schools, residential schools and homes and within the community.

Working in a large NHS hospital at the beginning of her career, Anne gained valuable experience in care of amputee clients, general surgery, cerebral vascular accidents and other neurological conditions, orthopaedics, burns and plastics, care of the elderly and rheumatology.

Moving into paediatrics she worked in a Child Development Centre and a special school with residential facilities for children and young adults who had complex needs, including those with challenging behaviour, where she facilitated integration into family, school and community life.

Working at SCOPE as a senior therapist, Anne developed therapy, care and education programmes. She assessed and taught children, parents and carers to use equipment for self-care activities, posture management, manual handling, communication, play and mobility. She liaised with NHS professionals to ensure continuity of care and with Social Services when equipment and major housing adaptations were identified.

Anne spent some time working in the charity sector for Whizz-Kidz as a regional mobility therapist. The role covered mobility equipment and paediatric disabilities, for example muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, spina bifida, spinal injuries, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy and other neurological conditions, including traumatic brain injuries.

Anne had a wealth of knowledge on powered mobility and in particular the benefits for pre-school children as well as standing wheelchairs for children and young people through research and lectures. Working in conjunction with Bath Institute of Medical Engineering, she helped develop a pre-school powered wheelchair.

In the later years of Anne's career she used all this experience to become an Expert witness, using her objectivity to work with the companies that instructed her to support their clients. Anne's knowledge allowed her to provide solid evidence that would be accepted in Court to evaluate a claim.

It's such a shame we had to wait for Anne to pass away to find out so much about her but that was Anne, she had many people in her life, all seeing the same wonderful person but from different perspectives. We are all going to truly miss her.

Love Rosie, Pam & Dick