Samantha Noble
BBC News, Derby
Steve Beech
BBC News, Derby
Slimming world
The funeral of Margaret Miles-Bramwell will take place on Monday
“I bet we are now heading in the millions for the scope of the life of the people it has affected positively.”
The boss of the slimming world Margaret Miles-Bramwell Obe, 76, died surrounded by his family on February 2.
His trip started in a church room in Alfreton, Derbyshire, in 1969 – but his business developed and became a network of more than 3,500 consultants and around 700,000 members.
Before his funeral on Monday, we examine the life and heritage of the entrepreneur, who, according to his colleagues, was “revolutionary” with “a massive heart”.
Slimming world
Her friends and colleagues said her work had changed people’s lives
Born in April 1948, Ms. Miles-Bramwell was adopted by Emma-Selina and Samuel Birch, and grew up in South Normanton-a mining village in the Derbyshire.
At 15, she got pregnant with her daughter, Claire, and made a house with her baby’s father, Roy Miles, whom she married in 1964.
In 1977, they had their second child together, Dominic, and three years later, their son Ben was born.
After she and Mr. Miles separated, the businesswoman married her late husband Tony Whittaker in 1996, who died in 2021 after receiving a diagnosis of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Last month, Ms. Miles-Bramwell died at her home in Mallorca, Spain.
The funeral of Ms. Miles-Bramwell will take place on Monday at the Cathedral of Derby and before the service, his cord will leave his house in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, and will go to the Slimming World offices in Alfreton.
Inherit
Professionally, Ms. Miles-Bramwell started Petit, in a church room in Alfreton where she had her first slimming group in 1969.
In 1988, he opened his 1000th group – and had 5,000 groups eight years later.
The entrepreneur financed research on 1996 macronutrients – with regard to weight management, their energy density and their satiety for the food optimization diet.
While shortly after a fear of health and major surgery in 1997, Ms. Miles-Bramwell founded the Smackmers of the charity, which makes the little easier for someone (smiles) who collected more than 30 million pounds sterling for charity.
Media in Pennsylvania
In 2009, Ms. Miles-Bramwell received an OBE for nation health services and the charity
In 2000, Slimming World launched the very first reference program for the weight of the weight of the NHS and opened its first groups in the Republic of Ireland nine years later.
Ms. Miles-Bramwell received an OBE for health and charity health services, and in 2010, the University of Derby awarded him an honorary mastery.
When the pandemic struck in 2020, it published emergency financial reserves in Slimming World and its consulting franchisees to save the company during locking.
Ms. Miles-Bramwell was appointed businesswoman of the year at the National Business Women’s Awards in 2023 and had been honored in the top 100 influential people in 2025.
Marie Gregory, planning and inventory director, said that there was “this feeling of love and support” who came from Ms. Miles-Bramwell
According to those who knew her, Ms. Miles-Bramwell wanted to “put an end to shame, guilt, judgment and humiliation confronted with those who fight with their weight in England in the 1960s”.
Marie Gregory said the businesswoman “made a huge difference for so many lives”.
“You can look at the personalities of the members, people from the head office – it is their families, people who have had children who could not have had children before,” said the 43 -year -old man.
“I bet we arrive in the millions now just for the reach of the life of the people it has affected positively.”
Ms. Gregory, who has been in the company for almost 14 years, said: “I don’t look forward to Monday because it will be a really difficult day.”
‘The most nasty smile’
Debbie Lockwood has been working for Slimming World for 31 years.
The 61 -year -old training and development director described the late entrepreneur as “just magnificent” and “so fun”.
“Whenever I think of Margaret, the word laughs is the first thing that comes to mind,” she said.
“She had the most mean laughter and she has always been so fun to rub shoulders with.
“Margaret was so passionate about members – it was her first love, making sure that our members get the service they deserve.”
Slimming world
Margaret Miles-Bramwell, illustrated here with the staff of the Headquarters of the World in 1989
Above all, Ms. Miles-Bramwell had “built communities,” said Lockwood.
“Margaret knew – she was so intelligent in 1969 – that is what people needed, a community of minors who never judged you, you will never be humiliated, will never be said what to do.
“You were absolutely empowered to understand yourself and make your own thought, and it was revolutionary.”
Debbie Lockwood said “from a commercial point of view, from a personal point of view, she was simply magnificent – so fun”
Rebecca Robinson, a 50-year-old communications director, said Ms. Miles-Bramwell had left a huge heritage.
Ms. Robinson, who has been working in the business for over 20 years, added: “She was a bigger than life character, with a sense of fantastic, incredibly intelligent and competent humor.
“She was full of integrity, a solid heart, and she would really light the room when she entered.
“There are still moments when we expect it to cross the doors, and we realize how much we have lost a special person.
“But Margaret left a huge heritage.
“Margaret has created a legacy in the slimming world that crosses everything we do, so Margaret will always be with us in everything we do in the future.”
Slimming world
Ms. Miles-Bramwell was appointed businesswoman of the year at the National Business Women’s Awards in 2023
