The Life of Nora Weeks

The story of the lady behind the Bach Flower Remedies

This is a story about Nora Weeks, the lady behind the Bach Flower Remedies. Her story is integral to the story of Dr Edward Bach and the Bach Remedies, and it is a story of quiet tenacity and dedication. Without Nora Weeks’ determination to preserve her friend and colleague’s work, it is doubtful that the Bach Flower Remedies and the understandings of Edward Bach would have flourished in the way that they have.

Nora Weeks & Edward Bach

Nora Weeks was a close friend, colleague, travelling companion, and biographer of Edward Bach. She was an important part of his life; she accompanied him on many of his journeys around England and Wales to find the flowers for the 38 remedies and she was present through much of his time developing the remedies and the understandings that went with them.

When Edward Bach died in 1936, what would later become known as the Bach Flower Remedies were very much still in their infancy. After all, Bach had only discovered the last of the 38 remedies in August 1935 and had died only a little over a year later. And so it fell to Nora Weeks to nurture and promote Bach’s remedies, work and philosophy after his death. Much of what we now know about Edward Bach came from the biography that Nora Weeks wrote about him. And of course it was Nora Weeks and Victor Bullen who established the Dr Edward Bach Healing Trust ( later the Bach Centre ), made and bottled the remedies and keep Edward Bach’s books in print, and eventually made them famous around the world.

Nora was by all accounts quite an extraordinary lady and she truly dedicated her life to the remedies, understandings and work of her friend Edward Bach. This is, at least in part, her story.

Nora Weeks’ Early Life & Career

Nora was born on the 16th July, 1896 in Willesden Green, London. She was the daughter of William Weeks – a lace and trimming agent - and Alice Weeks, and she had an elder sister called Alice May Weeks. What we know of her early life comes mainly from Victor Bullen’s short biography of his friend and colleague. Victor said that at five years old, the young Nora had tripped over a doll's house and developed TB in her right hip. This caused her leg to begin to shorten, so she was put into a splint, strapped to a board and was in a spinal carriage for over a year.

Maybe a result of this was that her early career had a very therapeutic focus. She studied educational and remedial exercise and massage at the Anstey Physical Training College in Birmingham. Anstey was a pioneer training college for teachers of girls' physical education, and it was only the second such institution for women in the U.K. The college was set up by Rhoda Anstey who was a feminist, theosophist, astrologer and advocate of meditation. An interesting early influence maybe on the work that Nora would later go on to be involved with.

After her time at Anstey College she taught gymnastics and games at Grantham Girls Secondary School. She then ran a practice in Bournemouth offering gymnastics, games and massage, alongside her sister, Alice, who taught dancing and fencing. During her time there she lived on Pinecliffe Avenue, West Southbourne, just outside Bournemouth. When Alice married, Nora left Bournemouth and trained as a radiographer at Guys Hospital in London.

Nora Weeks Meets Edward Bach

After she had completed her training, Nora worked as a radiologist in Park Crescent for a number of years. It would have been around this time that she first met Edward Bach. In 1922 Bach had decided to leave his work at the London Homoeopathic Hospital and concentrate all of his efforts into his research on the Bach Nosodes and onto his private Harley Street practice. To that end he took out a lease on a new, larger laboratory in Park Crescent, and so serendipity or fate brought them together in the same building.

A Close Relationship & Lifelong Friendship

When or how they first met in Park Crescent, we don’t know, but it started a friendship that would endure until Edwards death in 1936. It is almost certain that it was more than just a friendship too, and that Nora and Edward had a relationship together in those early days in London, and maybe on and off over a number of years.

The Start of the New Work

According to Victor Bullen, at some point in the mid 1920’s, Nora started “a private massage practice in London, working for several Harley Street doctors until 1930, including Sir Thomas Dunhill, the then King's doctor, Dr Alec Gow and Lord Horder.” She had lodgings just down the road at 118 Baker Street.

During this time Edward Bach had been going through a period of great change; his relationship with his second wife, Kitty Light, had come to an end in 1922, and his work was changing too. His focus on the Bach Nosodes was soon overtaken by a deep inner drive to find a natural cure, based not on the use of disease ( as with the his nosodes ), but in the fields of nature. In 1930 he came to the decision that he needed to leave his conventional London life, his research work and his highly successful Harley Street practice and focus entirely on his new work with the flower remedies.

Once Bach had made his decision, according to Nora he acted on it swiftly… “He made a large bonfire of all the pamphlets and papers he had written on his former work, and smashed his syringes and vaccine bottles, throwing their contents down the laboratory sink. He did nothing by halves.”

Bach asked Nora Weeks to accompany him on this new and exciting journey of discovery as his helper and secretary. She was apparently delighted to do so and maybe she felt drawn to both the man and his mission. However, for her too this meant leaving behind her life in London, and her work for some very eminent physicians, and embarking on a journey into something completely different. It is interesting to note though that for many years, until at least 1946, she remained on the Physiotherapy and Masseuse Register.

A Journey of Flowers & New Ideas

The period between 1930 and 1934 was a busy time for Nora Weeks and Edward Bach. In the early part of 1930, they went to Bettws-y-coedd, searching the Welsh countryside for the flowers for the new remedies. Then in August they went to Cromer in north Norfolk. It set a pattern for the next few years; in the spring, summer and autumn they would travel in search of flowers for the remedies. This would take them around many of the southern and eastern counties of England. During the late summer/ early autumn and through the winter they stayed in Cromer, and here Bach would see clients, work on his philosophy and explore the new ideas that he was developing.

Over these four years Nora Weeks learnt all about the remedies, the plants that they were made from and Bach’s new understandings. No doubt she was also instrumental in helping to get Bach’s new books ‘Heal Thyself’ and ‘The Twelve Healers’ published. She also wrote articles on the new remedies and had two articles published in Heal Thyself ( not Dr. Bach’s book, but confusingly a homoeopathic journal of the same name ).

In a letter written in November 1933, Bach said: “I think Miss Weeks' article is the simplest and most beautiful yet written. She is a mighty power for good: because childlike she sees things from the simplest pure way.”

Nora and Mount Vernon: a Permanent Home for the Work

For four years they followed this pattern, but when Edward Bach left Cromer for what turned out to be the last time in 1934, he had a strong inner sense that he needed to look for a more permanent place to settle and one that was preferably within easy reach of London.

It was Nora who found what they were looking for, a small cottage called Mount Vernon in Sotwell near Wallingford.  She describes it thus: “Walking through the village of Brightwell, three miles from Wallingford, I thought how charming it was and that Dr. Bach would love its quietude and peace, so I went into the village shop and asked the friendly looking girl behind the counter if she knew of any small empty cottage. She told me of a little house called Mount Vernon, and gave me the name of its landlord. I went to see him straight away and found a genial kindly countryman who said 'Some friends of mine want the house, but I would rather Dr. Bach had it. When do you want to go in?'”

Life in Sotwell

Nora’s discovery of Mount Vernon was a perfect one and Bach moved there in April 1934. In her biography of Bach, Nora said that the first few months were spent resting and recuperating, the garden was re-planned, and a small quantity of furniture was bought. It was a quiet time, before his where abouts become known again. Once they did, patients began to come in great numbers, and so he trained up a small team of people to help him with the work and correspondence. This small team consisted of Nora Weeks of course, along with Victor Bullen and a lady called Mary Tabor.

Mount Vernon and the Wellsprings

Over the next two and a half years Bach and his team used two houses in Sotwell. One was Mount Vernon, the little cottage that Nora Weeks had found, and the other was The Wellsprings, which was a larger house a little down the road from Mount Vernon.

Mary Tabor ( Rhona Margaret Tabor ) was the other significant lady in Bach’s life, and she lived at the Wellsprings, and had made it available to Bach and his team. It is most likely that Bach had first met Mary Tabor some years before, maybe during his time in Wales. She was from a wealthy background, and it is probable that Mary covered the cost of the rent for both houses.

It seems that for much of his time in Sotwell, Bach actually lived at The Wellsprings with Mary, while Nora Weeks and Victor Bullen lodged at Mount Vernon. Certainly, many of Bach's letters from the time were sent from Wellsprings, he was on the electoral register there, and on his death certificate his place of residence was listed at Wellsprings, with Mary Tabor's name also being listed on the certificate.

Bach’s Death and a Time of Transition

From 1935 onwards it was becoming increasingly clear to Nora and Edward Bach’s circle of friends that he was beginning to struggle with his health. Increasingly, while his will and drive were still very much there, his body was finding it difficult to keep up with the sheer amount of work that he did.

By late 1936 things were more serious and so Bach trained his small team with great care so that they could carry on the work in the event of his death. Despite periods of real optimism that he might fully recover his health and carry on his work at this level, it was not to be, and on the 27th November 1936, at the age of just 50, he passed peacefully in his sleep at the Ladygrove nursing home.

Nora Weeks, Victor Bullen and Mary Tabor Continue the Work

After Dr Bach’s death, his team of helpers, Nora Weeks, Victor Bullen and for a while at least, Mary Tabor, continued his work. They gave talks in London, often reading his ‘Healing by Herbs’ lecture and did all they could to promote the remedies and his work. "The work continued  after Dr. Bach's  death at the Centre. During the Second World War (1939-1945), when money was short, Nora  Weeks and Victor Bullen worked in the Royal Ordinance Depot while Mary Tabor continued to care  for patients during the day" ( from the Bach Centre Newsletter, issue 63, Winter 2006 ). The Royal Ordinance Depot in Didcot was just down the road from Sotwell and while there is no record of what Nora did, Victor Bullen was listed as a clerical store-man there.

Nora Weeks to the Fore

However, it was Nora Weeks who had been the sole beneficiary of Dr. Bach’s will, and so in large part it fell to her to take forward his work. She was faced with a considerable challenge; how to nurture and protect the integrity of Edward Bach’s work and remedies, while at the same time taking his very new, and very forward-thinking ideas and concepts out into the world? She seems to have set about it with considerable strength and determination.

Early Books and Publications

A new edition of the Twelve Healers and Other Remedies was published in 1937. Nora had corresponded with the C.W. Daniel publishing company over the years to help get Bach books published and so she was working with old friends.

In 1940, she published a book of her own, a biography of Edward Bach, entitled: ‘The Medical Discoveries of Edward Bach Physician’, which gives an account of the life and discoveries of Edward Bach. It is a fascinating read, and the only biographical account written of him by a contemporary. For all that it is interesting though, it is certainly quite an idealised account that gives little away about many aspects of his life. A sign maybe that she wanted to create a particular sense of the man and his work.

How to Move Forward? A Question of Direction

Mary Tabor also wrote a book, ‘To Thine Own Self’, which she published in 1938. It was a fictional story based on the philosophy and understandings of Edward Bach, and the main characters are clearly identifiable as Bach and his circle of friends. The book was probably written as a way of sharing Bach’s philosophy and way of seeing the world, and it certainly gives a very interesting insight into the lives and understandings of Bach and his team. It also gives an interesting insight into the relationships between them all and paints a slightly different picture to Nora Weeks’ biography.

However, at some point, probably after 1945, Mary Tabor seems to have disappeared from the story, which is interesting, given her dedication to the man and his work. We don’t know why this happened, but it is possible that it revolved around tensions between Nora and Mary, the two most prominent and important women in Bach’s life.

Whose Voice Speaks for Bach?

Dr Bach had a created a beautiful set of remedies and an inspiring and insightful philosophy to go with them. However, the remedies and his understandings were quite radical for the times, and it is possible that Nora Weeks might have felt that she needed to curate this creation carefully. She and Victor seem to have chosen a more factual approach and a focus more on the remedies and the already written work of Edward Bach. Mary’s more colourful approach and the focus on her understandings of Bach the man and his philosophy may not have been entirely to Nora Weeks liking. Certainly, after the first print run of Mary’s book had sold, Nora made the decision not to have it republished.

Nora Weeks may have felt that there needed to be clear and consistent team message, and that this should be a simple and more factual one, based on Bach’s existing work. Possibly Mary’s approach, or at least the one that she took in her book, and there is no reason to think she may have taken a different one elsewhere, simply didn’t fit in with Nora’s vision? We may never know, but the end result was that while she remained living at Wellsprings until around 1960, she left Nora and Victor to take the work forward in the way that they did.

Honouring Bach’s Legacy - Making the Bach Remedies

In 1950 Nora started a quarterly newsletter - the Bach Remedies Newsletter, which she published herself. The newsletter would be a way of sharing freely and openly the wisdom, knowledge, principles and remedies of Edward Bach. The remedies of course were a key part of Bach’s work, for without these practical tools, there was no catalyst to help people to make change in their lives.

To this end Nora Weeks made an early statement of intent about how the remedies were made and who could make them. The early editions of her newsletter covered how to make and prepare the remedies by the sun and boiling methods. And she followed this in the third edition by addressing the potentially thorny issue of whether the remedies had to be made by Bach himself or his team of helpers. She said: “Although it is a privilege to have stocks from Dr Bach's own preparations, any made by yourselves will be found to be just as potent. Many people have already made Tinctures both by the sun method and by the boiling method, and the medicines prepared from them have brought the same excellent results.” This was really important as it honoured Dr Bach’s original intentions. It also demystified the making process by saying that if you have the correct plants and conditions, you can make a Bach remedy, it’s not down to the mystical powers of an individual. It also helped to ensure that the remedies were not the preserve of one team of people or group.

Creating a Permanent Home for the Remedies

Mount Vernon – A Simple Cottage

In the 1940s Sotwell was a quiet village and Mount Vernon a simple cottage. It wasn’t until 1947 that mains electricity entered village and not until 1949 that the village was connected to the mains water supply. Nora Weeks said in an early newsletter that: “our landlord put in the bath for us during the war. His kindness was always great, and now his son, our present landlord, has the same kindly thought for us. Mount Vernon has not changed very much since Dr. Bach's death; it is the same simple little house, but we have more forks and knives and spoons!”

Mount Vernon and the Dr Edward Bach Healing Trust

At this time Nora and Victor were still renting Mount Vernon, but they had ambitions to create a more permanent home for the work. Buying the house would provide them with a more solid foundation to grow from and a home from which to take the work out into the world.

However, raising the necessary money to purchase a house in those days was no small matter, so in 1955 they set up a fund to help them to raise the money that they needed. Then, in 1958 they established the Dr Edward Bach Healing Trust. The purpose of the new trust was to: “purchase Mount Vernon…. to be used for the direct purpose of continuing and expanding the work of Flower Healing, and to perpetuate the memory of Dr Edward Bach.”

The Trust was based on the ideals and principles of Edward Bach and created by two people who had known and loved him. Nora Weeks and Victor Bullen set out to create an organisation that would freely and openly share the wisdom, knowledge, principles and remedies of Edward Bach. This early heart-based idealism and dedication was born of a deep knowledge of the work and of Edward Bach himself.

By 1958 they had raised around £1,200 ( around £35,000 in today’s money ) and the house was successfully purchased and Nora and Victor would go on to establish Mount Vernon as a permanent home for the Bach Remedies and work of Edward Bach.

Later down the line, after both Nora and Victor had passed away, the trust would later eventually morph into what is now The Bach Centre.

Bach Flower Remedies: Illustrations and Preparation

Under the stewardship of Nora Weeks and Victor Bullen, the Trust shared freely and openly how to make and prepare the mother tinctures and stock remedies, which was exactly how Edward Bach would have wanted it. As clearly mentioned in that early Bach newsletter, Nora Weeks was of the belief that anyone could make and prepare the Bach Flower Remedies, and so she and Victor wrote a book to tell people just how to do it.

In 1964 they co-authored a book called “Bach Flower Remedies: Illustrations and Preparations” in which they shared this knowledge along with illustrations of each flower and how to identify it. It was a beautiful book, full of information and integrity.

Nora Weeks – the Lady of the Flowers

In her book, Mary Tabor had called one of her characters the Lady of the Flowers, a character clearly meant to be Nora Weeks. And maybe this is a rather beautiful name for a lady who was perhaps as driven by Edward Bach’s vision as Bach himself had been, and who dedicated the rest of her life to promoting his flower remedies and work.

Victor Bullen said of Nora Weeks: "she has been mainly responsible for the phenomenal spread of the work throughout the world. She [is] a most extraordinary woman and for years has worked alone until recently, dealing with an ever-increasing post with demands for help, advice and medicine without any sign of hurry. Patients who call get the impression that she has all the time in the world.”

For more than 40 years after Bach’s death, Nora Weeks, with help from Victor Bullen, promoted Bach’s work. She and Victor ran the day-to-day work of the trust, making and helping people with the remedies, keeping Bach’s books in print and spreading the work around the world.

What she achieved in taking forward the work of Edward Bach was really quite incredible. And yet it was never about her. Not once does Nora mention herself or any of her contributions in her biography of Bach, nor does she subsequently make any of the work about herself. She seems to have been self-effacing and humble about her contributions and it was left to Victor Bullen to write a short biography in 1973 to say something about the life of this amazing lady.

Nora’s Later Life

Nora Weeks never married and spent the rest of her life at Mount Vernon. Her friend and colleague Victor died in May 1975 but by this time they had a built a small team around them to take the work forward into the future.

Nora Weeks died on the 29th January 1978. In her will she left her estate ( some £49,076 ) to her successors as trustees so that they could carry on the work that she had dedicated her life to.
What she had achieved was quite remarkable in many ways, and she left a legacy that everyone who has been helped by the remedies and work of Edward Bach can be grateful for.

Discovering More

We would love to know more about the life of Nora Weeks, so if you have any stories about her that you would like to share, or tales to tell, please do be in contact as we'd love to hear them!

After Bach: As a side note, for all that happened after Nora Weeks death in 1978, Julian Barnard's book, ‘After Bach’ is an insightful and interesting read.

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