Tributes have been paid to Dr Brigid Cooling of Kingsmead Court Monmouth who has died aged 64 after a short illness. She was born in 1960 to Reverend Derrick and Margaret Cooling and her early education was at the primary school in Llangattock vibon -Avel near Monmouth where her father served as vicar.
She attended Windsor Girl’s School in Hamm, West Germany and Monmouth Girls School before studying physics at Queen Mary College London and later qualified as a teacher. Her early career included teaching and then working as an analyst for the NHS and Network Rail. She completed her PhD in Astro Physics at the University of London in 2003 for a thesis entitled ‘Factors Influencing Magnetic Reconnection at the Magnetopause.’
Brigid’s many interests included Thrash Metal music, politics, astronomy and science fiction.
In 2008 she moved to Cairo where she lived for 7 years. She had a close group of friends and led a lively social life, enjoying the culture and travelling around Egypt. Brigid was an adventurous lady and has been described by her friends as kind, helpful and having a great sense of humour.
She returned to Monmouth in 2015 and moved to Kingsmead Court where she ran the management company.
Brigid served as Secretary of the Monmouth Labour Party and one of her lifelong political commitments was to the Palestinian people. In recent years she worked for Monmouth based charity Hands Around the World and undertook executive coaching and maths tuition.
Brigid died peacefully at the Grange University Hospital on 4 June after being diagnosed with cancer a few weeks earlier. She was surrounded by her family.
She is survived by her mother Revd Margaret Cooling, sister Tess, brothers Mike and Nick. She was aunt to Tommy, Chrissie, Arabella, William, Sam, Jack, Christopher and Skye and great aunt to Georgia, Rosie and Poppy.