It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our much loved president Lady Anne Tree who died peacefully at home in Sussex on August 9th.

Lady Anne was a remarkable woman, as a prison visitor in the 1950's she became acutely aware of the lack of meaningful occupation afforded to prisoners. Her personal and family interests in embroidery and textiles gave her a valuable insight into how rewarding, relaxing and beneficial sewing could be to someone with very little else to occupy their time, and time, she noted, was something that prisoners had an awful lot of on their hands.

The idea for Fine Cell Work was born whilst she visited prisons throughout the UK but it was an idea that was not met with any particular enthusiasm by the powers that be within the system at that time. She took her plans to the Home Office, then responsible for prisons, but was rejected on the grounds that paying prisoners decent sums to do needlework was akin to allowing them to profit by their crimes. Lady Anne continued to challenge this judgment for several decades until Fine Cell Work was given the go ahead and officially established as a charity in 1997.

Lady Anne retired from the role of Chair in 2008 owing to ill health but continued to be involved and was always on hand to offer advice, enthusiasm and guidance. She was tremendously proud of the way in which the charity evolved and delighted at the diversity of work being offered to prisoners as we continued to grow.

We shall miss her dearly but her spirit, dedication and passion for the work of the charity will continue with us today, tomorrow and long into the future.

To read a number of recently published obituaries of Lady Anne Tree do visit the Guardian and the Telegraph websites.