A DONATION of £50,000 has been made to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station in Rhyl as part of the will of a woman who owned a care home in the town for more than 40 years.

The legacy was donated by Edna Roose, a popular figure in the town who died on March 22, 2021 aged 89 after a short illness.

Mrs Roose became the owner of Bron Haul Care Home on Brighton Road in 1977, having previously ran a guest house with her late husband Peter in Westbourne Avenue before moving to Water Street to open a cafe called ‘Roose's’.

She was a great supporter of the station and its fundraisers, and also left £20,000 in her will to St Thomas’ Church, Rhyl.

Phil Roose, her son, arranged for the legacy to be sent to the RNLI, and met with members of the crew, station management, and fundraisers at the Rhyl boathouse on January 7 to confirm it had been received at Poole RNLI headquarters.

Rhyl Journal: Edna Roose at SnowdonEdna Roose at Snowdon

Phil said: “I just wanted mum to be recognised for what she’s done. She went back a long way with the Rhyl lifeboat station; they donated a big model boat that they had from the café that’s still in the station now.

“This January is 45 years since we’ve been there, in Bron Haul. My father left a lot of money to his grandchildren, and I said to mum years ago: ‘Dad should’ve been remembered’. So mum made her will a few years ago, and it’s nice for her to be remembered.

“A lot of the residents of the home went to St Thomas’, and she always did a lot with St Thomas’. She always gave to the church at Christmas and when we had the café, all of the fishermen used to come in.”

Mrs Roose was born in Rhuddlan and went to Glyndwr school in Rhyl, later becoming a nurse and working in the War Memorial Hospital on Grange Road.

Tributes paid to his mother by Phil following her death last year can be read at: www.rhyljournal.co.uk/news/19194361.bron-haul-meant-mum-life-family-pay-tribute-kind-rhyl-care-home-owner.