GLADYS Belson, the former chairman of Wycombe District Council and headteacher at Danesfield School, has died aged 93.

The much-loved teacher and former president of the National Association of Headteachers (NAH) died on Sunday,.

Miss Belson, pictured below, who lived in Marlow for many years, was a member of the Kings Church congregation in High Wycombe. She was born in West Wycombe in 1913 but the family soon moved to Birmingham because her father was working there during World War One.

Miss Belson returned to Buckinghamshire and attended Wycombe High School. Her first job was with the Inland Revenue at Somerset House in London.

Taxation soon gave way to ballet after she met a Russian ballet dancer on a train, who made her principal of the academic sector of the Russian Ballet School in Seer Green.

During World War Two Miss Belson heard the sad news that her brother and fianc were killed in action in the same week.

She joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, and when the war was over she trained as a teacher. In 1952 she became headmistress at Danesfield School, in Rasslers Wood, Medmen-ham, where she stayed until her retirement.

During her time as head she also became involved in the NAH. She began her first address to the group saying: "Nothing was ever built to reach the skies unless someone thought that it should, someone believed that it could, someone willed that it must."

She was elected to Wycombe District Council in May 1976 and represented West Wycombe and Sands until 1985.

During her time as a councillor, Miss Belson served as vice-chairman, and then later, chairman of the planning committee.

She was elected chairman of the council for the year 1982 to 1983. She was also on the professional committee of the Department of Education at Oxford University.

Wycombe district Councillor David Cox, also a former headteacher, who worked at Hazlemere Park School, knew her very well.

He said: "She was a teacher of some note in the area and rose to become president of the national headteachers association. I knew her very well as leader of the local branch of the association. Then she became president and later I took over that role. She gave me invaluable advice on how to do it.

"She had a great many friends in and around the High Wycombe area especially in the council and headteacher circles. She was a notable figure, as they say."

Derri Lewis, current headteacher at Danesfield, said: "I only had the pleasure of meeting her twice but from what I understand she was a fantastic woman. Gladys Belson created the foundations of our school. We opened in 1953 and she was the first headteacher.

"There have only been three in the school's history. She started us off and did a great job with how the school is thought of in the community.

"From what I understand, she was a bit of a stickler for good manners and reputation. She was a hard taskmaster but she always had the best interests of the children in her heart."A celebration of Gladys' life will be held at the Kings Church, in Desborough Road, High Wycombe, on Tuesday June 6, at 12.30pm.