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Mrs Norma Skemp RIP (pictured next to Angela Rippon)

The following tribute to Norma Skemp was
written by our Chairman Gillie Howarth in 2003,
shortly after the death of our founder

Everyone involved with Listening Books – members, staff, readers and trustees – will be deeply saddened by the death of our founder, Norma Skemp.

Norma had contended for many years with Parkinson’s Disease, but happily, while she was still just well enough last October, she was able to pay a visit to the charity’s offices in Lant Street and on this occasion was very keen to meet staff from all departments and be brought up to date with recent developments. The surge in membership during 2002 delighted her and she was very impressed by the new studio and excited by plans for a Members’ Forum. The highlight of her visit was exploring the charity’s website – technologically, a far cry from the early days of The Listening Library in her basement office in Queen Anne’s Gate.

Norma Skemp, née Pringle, was born in India where her father was medical superintendent of the India Tea Company and where she became a childhood friend of the novelist, Rumer Godden. In 1920 the family returned to live in Brecon, South Wales, and after she had left school, Norma spent some time in Berlin and then studied drama at the Guildhall.

At the outbreak of war, she married Terence Skemp, a barrister, who had already volunteered for the army. While he was on service her mother became seriously ill and Norma nursed her at the then family home in Cheltenham. It was at this time she started the North Gloucestershire Poetry Society with her father, as well as the Cheltenham Shakespeare Society, which has since blossomed into the famous Cheltenham Literary Festival.

After her mother’s death, Norma had a distinguished career in the Wrens and then, after her three children were born, she started the Norma Skemp Secretarial Agency in partnership with her cousin, Tony Armstrong. This proved a great success and in a short time the offices moved from Norma’s own home to a magnificent office in Queen Anne’s Gate. Shortly afterwards, at the invitation of the parliamentary Sergeant at Arms, Norma took over the secretarial firm of Ashworth, which had been appointed by Gladstone to provide secretarial help to the House of Commons and this added a political dimension to her work which she greatly enjoyed.

However, a serious car accident in 1954 caused Norma to virtually lose her sight. When she applied for help to another charity, she found that they could not help her because she could still ‘see something’. Norma immediately recognized a gap in provision for people with disabilities and partial sight and she set up Listening Books in the basement of her secretarial offices. Her charm and energy and her many friends in high places, particularly in the theatrical world, helped her to get the charity under way and Dame Sybil Thorndike became its first president. Within a few years, the library had outgrown its basement in Norma’s office and after another move, it established itself finally in its present head quarters in Lant Street.

Ever since founding ‘The National Listening Library’, Norma has been the charity’s mentor and successive directors have consulted her on strategy and explored with her how the library might better meet the needs of new generations of member. Her quiet but determined concern to ensure access to literature for everyone with a disability and her own passion for drama and poetry have underpinned the service throughout and she always took a keen interest in members’ comments on recordings. She is truly irreplaceable but her twinkling spirit still very much animates Listening Books and her personal commitment will be long remembered in Lant Street and everywhere where Listening Books are enjoyed.