Slimming World boss’s weight reduction legacy with 700k members

“I wager we’re reaching means into the thousands and thousands now for the attain of the individuals’s lives she has affected in a optimistic means.”

Slimming World boss Margaret Miles-Bramwell OBE, 76, died surrounded by her household on 2 February.

Her journey began in a church corridor in Alfreton, Derbyshire, in 1969 – however her enterprise expanded grew to become a community of greater than 3,500 consultants and about 700,000 members, in keeping with the corporate.

Forward of her funeral on Monday, we have a look at the life and legacy of the entrepreneur, who colleagues have mentioned was “revolutionary” with “a large coronary heart”.

Born in April 1948, Mrs Miles-Bramwell was adopted by Emma-Selina and Samuel Birch, and grew up in South Normanton – a mining village in Derbyshire.

Aged 15, she fell pregnant with daughter, Claire, and made a house along with her child’s father, Roy Miles, whom she married in 1964.

In 1977, that they had their second youngster collectively, 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 being identified with most cancers and Alzheimer’s illness.

Final month, Mrs Miles-Bramwell died at her dwelling in Mallorca, Spain.

Mrs Miles-Bramwell’s funeral will happen on Monday at Derby Cathedral and forward of the service, her cortege will depart her dwelling in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, and head to Slimming World’s places of work in Alfreton.

Professionally, Mrs Miles-Bramwell began small, in a church corridor in Alfreton the place she had her first slimming group in 1969.

In 1988, it opened its one thousandth group – and had 5,000 teams eight years later.

The entrepreneur funded analysis on macronutrients 1996 – in relation to weight administration, their power density and satiety for Slimming World’s meals optimising consuming plan.

Whereas shortly after a well being scare and main surgical procedure in 1997, Mrs Miles-Bramwell based the charity Slimmers Making It A Little Simpler For Somebody (SMILES) which raised greater than £30m for charities.

In 2000, Slimming World pioneered the first-ever NHS weight administration referral scheme, and opened its first teams within the Republic of Eire 9 years later.

Mrs Miles-Bramwell acquired an OBE for companies to the well being of the nation and charity, and in 2010 the College of Derby awarded her an honorary grasp’s diploma.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, she launched emergency monetary reserves to Slimming World and its guide franchisees to avoid wasting the corporate throughout lockdown.

Mrs Miles-Bramwell was named Enterprise Lady of the Yr on the Nationwide Enterprise Ladies’s Awards in 2023, and had been honoured within the High 100 Influential Individuals 2025.

Within the phrases of those that knew her, Mrs Miles-Bramwell needed to “put an finish to the disgrace, guilt, judgement and humiliation confronted by these combating their weight in Nineteen Sixties England”.

Marie Gregory mentioned the businesswoman had “made an enormous distinction to so many lives”.

“You’ll be able to have a look at member figures, the individuals at head workplace – it is their households, individuals who have had kids who could not have had kids earlier than,” the 43-year-old mentioned.

“I wager we’re reaching means into the thousands and thousands now only for the attain of the individuals’s lives she has affected in a optimistic means.”

Ms Gregory, who has been with the corporate practically 14 years, mentioned: “I’m not trying ahead to Monday as a result of will probably be a extremely exhausting day.”

Debbie Lockwood has labored for Slimming World for 31 years.

The 61-year-old coaching and growth supervisor described the late entrepreneur as “simply beautiful” and “a lot enjoyable”.

“Every time I consider Margaret, the phrase laughter is the very first thing that comes into my head,” she mentioned.

“She had the wickedest chuckle and he or she was all the time a lot enjoyable to be round.

“Margaret was so obsessed with members – that was her old flame, ensuring our members get the service they deserve.”

However above all, Mrs Miles-Bramwell had “constructed communities”, mentioned Ms Lockwood.

“Margaret knew – she was so intelligent in 1969 – that is what individuals wanted, a group of slimmers who by no means judged you, you had been by no means going to be humiliated, by no means going to be informed what to do.

“You had been completely empowered to determine your self out and do your personal considering, and that was revolutionary.”

Rebecca Robinson, a 50-year-old director of communications, mentioned Mrs Miles-Bramwell left an enormous legacy.

Ms Robinson, who has been with the corporate for greater than 20 years, added: “She was a bigger than life character, with a unbelievable sense of humour, extremely clever and educated.

“She was filled with integrity, a large coronary heart, and he or she actually would mild up the room when she got here in.

“There are nonetheless moments once we anticipate her to stroll by way of the doorways, and we realise what a particular particular person we now have misplaced.

“However Margaret’s left an enormous legacy.

“Margaret created a legacy in Slimming World that runs by way of every little thing we accomplish that Margaret will nonetheless be with us in every little thing we do going ahead.”