A FORMER mayor of Bolton dubbed the "patron saint" of Bolton Institute has died aged 97.

Honorary Alderman Mrs Ethel Ryley died at a nursing home in Macclesfield.

She was Mayor of Bolton from 1968 to 1969, but she will best be remembered for helping to create Bolton's education system in the 1960s and early 1970s as chairman of the education committee.

And as chairman of the nationwide, powerful Education Committee of the Association of Municipal Authorities, she held monthly meetings with the then Minister of Education, Margaret Thatcher.

Mrs Ryley pushed for funds to construct the concrete buildings near Sainsbury's supermarket which are now Bolton Institute.

Wilf Gardener, vice-principal of Bolton Institute, said: "Without Ethel, Bolton Institute would not be what it is today.

"She was the inspiration behind the original Bolton Institute of Technology. She is really our unofficial patron saint." There is a library at the Chadwick Street campus named after her and she was given an honary fellowship of Bolton Institute in 1988.

During her time on Bolton Council, she took on governorships of more than 11 schools and colleges, including Bolton School, Canon Slade and Mount St Joseph's in Farnworth, as well as Bolton Institute.

Mrs Ryley, of Junction Road West, Lostock, was also a member of the the Courts of Manchester and Lancaster universities and the Open University.

After 25 years as a councillor on Bolton Council, she was made an Honorary Alderman in 1974.

She became the first woman Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire in 1970.

Her son, David Ryley, 67, of Hollinhurst Drive, said fondly: "I class it as a disease she had.

"Somehow she just had to carry on doing more and more and putting responsibilities on her shoulders. "She just loved to give her time to others, it was in her blood somehow."

She was also involved in helping run old people's homes and clubs.

Plumber

She won Deane ward for the Conservatives in 1947 and was made an Alderman in 1965.

She grew up in Egerton and went to Walmsley School and then Bolton County Grammar.

As a teacher, she taught at Bolton's Holy Trinity School until she married plumber Wilfred in 1927.

She was the mother of two, grandmother of five and great-grandmother of 13.

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