Diane Clare Hindley (nee Oxberry) (13 August 1967 – 10 January 2019) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

broadcaster and meteorologist, best known as a long-serving TV and radio presenter for

BBC North West BBC North West is the BBC English Region serving Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, North Yorkshire (western Craven), West Yorkshire (western Calderdale), Derbyshire (western High Peak), Cumbria (Barrow-in-Furness and So ...

. She presented weather forecasts for the regional news programme ''

North West Tonight ''BBC North West Tonight'' is the BBC's regional television news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme airs at 1.30pm (as ''North West Today''), 6.30pm and 10.30pm, with shorter b ...

'' for 23 years until her death in 2019.

Early life

Oxberry was born on 13 August 1967 in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, to Francis Joseph Oxberry (1935–1983) and Margaret R. Dent.

Career

Oxberry originally joined the BBC as a personal assistant at Radio 2, having previously auditioned for a presenting role on the youth music series '' No Limits'' for BBC2. She began her broadcasting career on

Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC ** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music *CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...

, working alongside Steve Wright and in March 1990 Diane became part of

Simon Mayo Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022. Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...

's on-air team for the weekday breakfast programme. In 1991, she became a presenter for the second series of the Saturday morning children's TV programme, '' The 8:15 from Manchester'', where she met her husband, cameraman Ian Hindle. After studying

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

at the Met Office College in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, Oxberry joined

in 1995 as its first dedicated weather presenter. Alongside her forecasting work, she also co-presented the weekday breakfast programme on

BBC Radio Manchester BBC Radio Manchester is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford ...

(alongside Eamonn O'Neal) and worked as a relief newsreader and presenter for ''

''. In later years, she fronted the peak-time regional current affairs programme ''Inside Out North West''. Oxberry made her last appearance on ''North West Tonight'' in mid-December 2018. Her last report for ''Inside Out'' was aired posthumously as part of a tribute programme on 21 January 2019.

Personal life

Oxberry was married to Ian Hindle in 1993. The couple had two children and lived in

Sale, Greater Manchester Sale is a town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, in the historic county of Cheshire on the south bank of the River Mersey, south of Stretford, northeast of Altrincham, and southwest of Manchester. In 2011, it had a population of 134 ...

Death

Oxberry died at the

Christie Hospital The Christie Hospital in Manchester, England, is one of the largest cancer treatment centres in Europe. It is managed by The Christie NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital was established by a committee under the chairmanship of Richard Ch ...

, Manchester, on 10 January 2019, aged 51, shortly after being diagnosed with

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different c ...

. Her death was announced publicly the following day. Oxberry's funeral took place on 7 February 2019 at St Mary Magdalene's church in Sale. A memorial service was held at

Manchester Cathedral Manchester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George, in Manchester, England, is the mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother ...

three weeks later on 28 February 2019 - Greater Manchester mayor

Andy Burnham Andrew Murray Burnham (born 7 January 1970) is a British politician who has served as Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017. He served in Gordon Brown's Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2007 to 2008, Culture Secretary from 2008 ...

described Oxberry as "a true friend of the

north west of England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,052,000 in 2011. It is the th ...

". Ian Hindle, Oxberry's widower, later set up a charity to help patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer. By April, the fund had raised more than £52,000 online.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oxberry, Dianne 1967 births 2019 deaths BBC North West newsreaders and journalists BBC weather forecasters British women television journalists Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from ovarian cancer English women journalists People from Sunderland British radio presenters British women radio presenters 20th-century British businesspeople