Sarah Cockbill (1947–2026)

On 14 January 2026, Sarah Cockbill FRPharmS, aged 78 years, of Chepstow, Monmouthshire. Cockbill registered with the Society in 1977. Between 1993 and 1996, she was vice chair of the Welsh Executive of the then Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and between 2012 and 2014, she was a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS) Welsh Pharmacy Board.

Tributes

I first met Sarah, in the 1990’s, as a committee member of the then Cardiff branch of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. We served together on this committee until the demerger of the Society in 2009. Following the demerger, we continued to serve the profession as members of the steering group for the newly formed Cardiff and Vale Local Partnership Forum (LPF). Some years later moving to the steering group for the Gwent LPF as that better represented our geographical employment. Sarah was a member of the National Association of Women Pharmacists during this time, coming all the way from Chepstow to many events in Cardiff — the last, a lunch in November 2025. Over the past 30 plus years, Sarah became a trusted friend and colleague. She will be greatly missed.

Hazel Baker MRPhamS, retired

Our friend and colleague, Sarah Cockbill, died suddenly on 14 January 2026. At the time of her death, she was a committee member of the RPS Retired Pharmacists’ Expert Advisory Group (RPEAG) — since Jan 2020 — and had most recently joined us for lunch at our late November 2025 meeting. She was a member of our joint steering groups with RPS Museum, where we were together on line during the week prior to her death. She was well and looking forward to a more active year having recovered from knee surgery.

I got to know Sarah well during my time as chair (same period as Sarah was on the committee). This was especially so when she organised a visit to St Fagan’s and her hospitality in Chepstow at that time, and I valued our subsequent friendship.

Her professional background, primarily in Cardiff and South Wales, showed her to be passionate about pharmacy education, especially in her key interests of veterinary pharmacy and dressings where her research interests lay. She was a past chair of the Veterinary Pharmacists’ Association and represented pharmacy on a variety of national and international committees for dressings technology. Outside pharmacy, Sarah was integrally involved in livery companies in Wales and London, most recently having been given the freedom of the City of London in 2020. Sarah was intellectually interested, challenging and quirky, as well as being kind. My memories of her will forever include her toy bears, which filled her home, as well as her hospitality and kindness.

Mary Tompkins, immediate past chair of the RPEAG/RPG

I was sorry to learn of the sudden and untimely death of Sarah Cockbill, who has been a friend and colleague for many years. Our paths first crossed when I was at The College of Pharmacy Practice, of which Sarah was a founder member, and one of the first members to successfully sit the assessment for Fellowship, when it was introduced. She was part of the team responsible for the diploma in veterinary pharmacy, which was accredited by the college.

Another of her interests was legal and ethical aspects of pharmacy practice, and her knowledge of this was a great help to the RPS Membership Committee, on which we both served. We renewed our acquaintance in recent years on the RPS RPEAG and its Museum Support Group, with both of us taking part in an online meeting, just a few days before Sarah’s death. My sympathies to her family.

Ian G Simpson