My friend Elise Bayley, who has died aged 91, worked for the Plunkett Foundation for Co-operative Studies (subsequently the Plunkett Foundation) for 17 years in various capacities, including as the librarian and information officer. She also was custodian of the diaries and letters left to the organisation by its founder, Sir Horace Curzon Plunkett, a pioneer of agricultural co-operatives and MP.
Born in Woodchester, Gloucestershire, to Florence (nee Lockwood), a concert violinist, Elise grew up at the boys’ preparatory school Aylesford House in St Albans, where her father, Harold Bayley, was the headteacher. In 1950, aged 20, she graduated with a teaching diploma in piano, flute and singing from the Royal Academy of Music. Wishing to pursue languages, in 1955 she joined the travel agents Thomas Cook, where she worked for 15 years as a seasonal resident representative, spending the five-month season each year mainly in Italy.
She completed a BA degree in English in 1974 at the University of Southampton, followed by a diploma in library and information studies at University College London in 1976.
The same year, Elise joined the Plunkett Foundation. She amassed deep knowledge of the books, journals, business reports and research publications held in the library, and was, for many, the first point of contact for visitors from all over the world wishing to study farmer-controlled business development in the UK. Elise’s network of contacts in co-operative businesses was extensive, and stemmed not only from the Plunkett Foundation’s reputation as a clearing house, but also her individual skill as a communicator and facilitator.
She organised educational programmes for numerous Nuffield-funded visitors from developing countries who wished to study agricultural co-operative development in the UK. Elise’s programmes had fabulous itineraries, including travelling the length and breadth of the UK for observation, talks and meetings, and always featuring several week-long working attachments.
Elise was co-editor of the research serial the Year Book of Agricultural Co-operation (1980-86) and subsequently co-editor of the Year Book of Co-operative Enterprise (1988-93). She also undertook work assignments for the Plunkett Foundation in Poland, Bangladesh, Hungary and France.
The day after Elise retired from the Plunkett Foundation, on her 63rd birthday in 1993, she began work as a volunteer at the Oxfam bookshop in St Giles, Oxford. From 2014 Elise fiercely resisted slowly progressing dementia, living in sheltered accommodation, and then two care homes in the Surrey Hills.
Elise is survived by her siblings, Michael and Elaine.
