THE family of a woman who died after falling down the stairs of a town centre shop has paid tribute to her.

Gwen Hargreaves, of Belmont Road, Sharples, had gone into WH Smith to buy a diary on Saturday while her husband, Geoff, went back to their car.

It is understood she slipped on the stairs of the shop and fell backwards.

She suffered head injuries and was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital by ambulance.

The first Mr Hargreaves knew of the tragedy was when he received a phone call from the hospital because doctors had been unable to save his wife of 26 years.

Mrs Hargreaves, aged 68, was a former health worker and counsellor who enjoyed walking and gardening.

She was fit and healthy when the accident happened.

Mr Hargreaves said: “She meant everything to me. We worked together, we played together, we did everything together. We’ve never really been apart since we married.”

A letter of sympathy from one of her former counselling pupils described her as a person of “grace, dignity and love”.

Mr Hargreaves said she was well-loved by the hundreds of people who knew her in her 40-year career in the health service.

She started work as a nurse at the Royal Bolton Hospital in the 1970s before training as a midwife and moving to work at the Farnworth Health Clinic.

After working as a health visitor, she moved to Horwich Health Centre, where she worked until her retirement in 2001.

Mrs Hargreaves was a founding member of Beacon Counselling, one of Bolton’s largest volunteer-based counselling services and played a key role in helping to set it up.

She was also an active member of Trinity Methodist Church in Farnworth.

Mr Hargreaves said: “When we walked through Farnworth, people would stop and say hello. Gwen had either delivered their babies, helped them with their children or counselled them.”

He said Mrs Hargreaves loved children, despite having none of her own.

Her two stepchildren, Michelle Legge, aged 43, and Richard Andrew, aged 46, called her “mum”.

Mrs Legge said: “She was always calm and happy, and she always had a camera in her hand. She loved taking pictures and used to say ‘this is for my memories, for when your dad’s not here’.

“We never thought we’d be looking back at her like this.”

Mrs Hargreaves’ funeral will be held at Trinity Methodist Church, Farnworth, at 3pm today.

A date for an inquest into Mrs Hargreaves’ death is yet to be set.

julian.thorpe@theboltonnews.co.uk