06.07.1945 – 07.01.2025

The Hockey Museum (THM) is saddened to report the death of Fran Taft on 7 January 2025 aged 79.

Franny, as she was known to her friends, was an accomplished hockey player for Moseley Ladies Hockey Club and Warwickshire, but it was as a pioneering physiotherapist that she is best remembered and loved. In an era when any form of medical support for hockey teams was rare, Fran was already combining a playing career with treating team-mates between matches. Whilst undertaking this activity during the Midlands County Tournament in 1975, she came to the attention of All England Women’s Hockey Association (AEWHA) officials. Having been asked the question “Could you come and do a bit of physiotherapy on the England players at their next training session?”, she didn’t hesitate in saying yes, and before long Fran was attending every session. She then became the first physiotherapist to travel with an England women’s team to a World Tournament in 1975. Whether having a physio was their secret weapon is unknown, but the team did go on to take the World Championship trophy at this event.

The England Captain of the time, Anita White, certainly thought very highly of Fran’s contribution:

“Fran was appointed as our physio for the 1975 Women’s World Cup in Edinburgh. I remember her as a much loved and highly valued member of the squad, not only looking after our physical well-being but also bringing some light relief and fun to the group as well as providing a sympathetic ear to individuals. She was very much part of the team spirit that took us all the way to winning the trophy.”

 

Dr Anita White CBE, former Captain of England 1971-1976 and Great Britain President.

The England women’s team from the 1979 World Cup in Vancouver, Canada. Physiotherapist Fran Taft is standing middle row, furthest right.

Fran would go on to be the physio for England teams for the next five years including the 1979 World Cup in Vancouver, Canada. The coach of this team, Win Heath, has fond memories of their time together with the England team:

“Fran was a great person to be with. Full of fun but very professional in her work. An asset to both England and Great Britain squads. She worked hard to ensure that players were always fit to play and they had great confidence in her ability to sort out any injuries they may have incurred before or at the end of the game. She had a good relationship with the players. I will remember Fran with great fondness, particularly her sense of humour, professionalism and dedication to both squads.”

 

Win Heath, former Wales international player and England and Great Britain Coach, 1978-1983.

Fran will be remembered not only for her professionalism as a physiotherapist but also for her willingness to pull her weight as part of a team, no more so than the time she organised a hog roast at her home. Former England and Great Britain (GB) player Rosie Sykes remembers the event well:

“I remember Fran fondly. She offered her home in Bromsgrove for a fund-raising event to help finance players going to the 1979 World Cup (yes, this was what we had to do in the days before lottery funding). She organised the whole event which included a hog roast and hospitality for the players. No mean feat, but that was Fran. She was not afraid to do what needed to be done no matter how daunting the task. Not only was Fran kind and caring and extremely proficient in her role as physio but she was also known to take up a hockey stick during training sessions to ‘help out’ when we needed an extra body to dribble round etc. Fran loved her job and was so proud of England and the players entrusted to her care, she was such fun and I can honestly say that she was the best and most memorable England physio I had the pleasure of working with. I will always remember her with great affection.”

 

Rosie Sykes, England and Great Britain international player, 1978-1984.

“As a member of the England team that went to the 1979 World Cup, I can echo all the words of my teammates and coaches. I was certainly grateful for the expert care that got me back on the pitch after many bruising games, but it will be for her fun and friendship that I will probably remember her most – that laugh will stay with me always. When we went on to organise the Rambling Roses (the ex-England internationals’ team) she was a regular member whose physio skills were even more important for our aging bodies, but it was now great to see her being able to play alongside us in these more sociable games.”

 

Dr Katie Dodd MBE, former England international player, 1977-1982, and Vice President and former Chairperson of The Hockey Museum.

Fran was also very much a family person. Her fun loving and can-do personality comes through strongly in the wonderful eulogy written by Georgina Taft, along with siblings, Ally and Nick that was read out at the funeral. They have kindly shared the text with us and extracts from this can be read below. As Georgina mentions, her mother was a big influence on her choice of career and Fran must have been so proud when Georgina was appointed as the England hockey physio in 2004, 20 years after she had held the role.

Frances Samson (Taft) née Davies. Photograph courtesy of the family, taken from the order of service.

Funeral Eulogy for Frances Samson (Taft) née Davies

Extracts from the Eulogy read by Georgina Taft (daughter) at the funeral service. Accompanied by Ally Taft (daughter) and Nick Taft (son).

We feel very blessed to be able to stand up here and say our Mum was a very special person. We have had so many cards and messages and the feelings about Mum are pretty unanimous. Fran/Franny/Twin/Twinny/Granny/Granny Franny, Lulu to her beloved Dad and occasionally even Frances was full of energy and tremendous fun, coupled with bags of enthusiasm and a beaming smile. She was stunningly beautiful and incredibly kind to so many people. Several people have said that she “lit up the world” and gave inspiration to so many of our family and friends when they were growing up. She was a tough cookie with a great sense of humour and full of mischief. And she was loud! You would never have any trouble finding her in a crowded room as her whooping laughter could always be heard above the general din. She was the youngest (only by half an hour after her twin Geffers) of five. She adored all her siblings and often used to recount tales of all playing cricket in the garden and how her brothers teased her… good naturedly. She never wanted to miss out on all that was going on with her siblings, not even to stop playing to go to the toilet, leading to the odd mishap! She was very much a Daddy’s girl and loved nothing more than sitting on his knee or holding onto his hand when walking through Harborne.

Mum was one of those annoying people who was good at pretty much everything. Hockey was one of her major loves and she played for Warwickshire, England U23 and England Veterans. She was also selected for England in the 100-yard sprint but due to a mix up with the nuns at the convent, never got to secure her place. Mum loved nothing more than whizzing down the right wing and whacking the ball into the circle. She instilled in us a love of the sport and somehow made me feel like the sport was ours. However, the ‘team’ that was most special to her was Moseley Ladies’ Hockey Club, where she played for over 30 years. The club subsequently merged with Old Silhillians but she maintained these friendships throughout her life.

After finishing school at the Holy Child Convent, she studied physiotherapy at Queen Elizabeth College in Birmingham and went on to become a very highly regarded physiotherapist, working in high-level sport and also setting up an incredibly successful private practice, going on to run the majority of the physio services in Bromsgrove across numerous GP surgeries. But for her, the pinnacle of her career was accompanying the England women’s hockey team to the World Cup in Edinburgh in 1975 and again in Vancouver, in 1979. The Vice President of The Hockey Museum believes she was possibly the first physiotherapist to be appointed to work with the England women’s hockey team. She was also due to attend the Moscow Olympics with the Great Britain hockey team in 1980 but sadly didn’t get to go due to it being boycotted. She was able to resurrect her role in 2010, when she was appointed physio for the Wembley Legends team.

I vividly remember the run up to the 1979 World Cup competition when Mum and Dad hosted a huge pig roast, in order to raise money for the tour (there was no funding for the team in those days) and randomly the Argentinian men’s cricket team happened to be touring the UK so they were invited too. Players all camped out down the landing and in the various bedrooms at the rectory. At about one o’clock in the morning there was an impromptu hockey match on the lawn under the floodlights with the England women’s hockey team taking on the Argentinian men’s cricket. It was officiated by an official match umpire, also travelling with the team. I can’t remember who won but I do remember being allowed to be part of it, playing with my miniature red hockey stick.

As mentioned, Franny also ran a hugely successful physiotherapy practice. She was highly regarded by consultants, GPs, other physios and, of course, her patients. There were not many people in Worcestershire who hadn’t either heard of, or been treated by Frances Taft, including Keith the organist! There were many occasions sitting around the dinner table when she would regale us with another success story of bringing a patient back from the brink of spinal surgery and she got so much satisfaction from her work. As many of you will know Ally and I followed in her footsteps, although Ally later decided it wasn’t for her. I learnt so much from her, she was a brilliant professional sounding board. In fact, Mum was a wonderful confidante for anything that was going on in our lives. She was always ready with some sensible, unjudgmental advice. That is one of the things about her I miss most.

Mum had a beautiful [loud] singing voice, and sang in several choirs, always with gusto! Ally and Mum sang in a number of choirs together as well as singing in the Royal Albert Hall a number of times. There was always lots of singing in our house and one of her favourite songs will be played as we leave the church today.

Franny also had guts and was game for anything. I remember her recounting that one evening she went for a late-night bike ride, as it was a beautiful evening. She left her bike in a gateway and while she was lying down star gazing she heard a van pull up. She crept down to the gate to see a man putting her bike in the back of his van. He didn’t go far so Mum followed him and watched him put her bike in his garage. She walked home, got poor Dad out of bed and they both went back and pinched the bike back again. I would have loved to have seen the thief’s face in the morning!

Mum loved people; “the more the merrier” she would always say, so the house was always open to anyone who wanted to come and join the chaos. As long as they didn’t mind being subjected to the ‘Spanish inquisition’. Franny just always had a genuine, if slightly overbearing interest in people’s lives.

Mum had a huge circle of friends, the number of people here today is testament to that, and she was an extremely good friend to so many. She took her role as a friend very seriously and she supported many friends through difficult times. Mum’s many talents extended to art (she was a very good painter) and writing poetry, but she loved nothing more than being with her family, and was probably at her happiest when she got all three of us together at The Old Church House or The Old Threshing Barn and, better still, a little later, with all her grandchildren as well.

As far as the three of us are concerned, one of her greatest talents was that she was an amazing Mum. We had a magical childhood with this slightly crazy lady.

So, although the last few years Franny hasn’t been able to live the life she would have wanted, she certainly packed a lot into all the years up to then. She achieved so much in her life. However, despite all her huge achievements she always said that her greatest achievement was having her three gorgeous children.