My friend Margaret Miles-Bramwell, who has died aged 76, was the founder and chair of the weight-loss organisation Slimming World.
At the age of 21, after struggling with her weight, she hit upon the idea of forming a local weight-loss club. She set up Slimming World in early 1969 with the help of a friend and neighbour in Alfreton in Derbyshire, and by the end of the year the business had grown to 25 groups across the county and neighbouring Nottinghamshire. Today it employs more than 500 people at its head office in Alfreton, supporting a franchisee network across the UK and Ireland of about 3,500 self-employed consultants who run its weight-loss groups.
