In Memory of Bengi Cobden Youle

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Laura ‘Bengi’ Cobden Youle (School 2001-06) in December 2024.

Bengi came from Cumnor House to join her older brother Steve Cobden at Eastbourne College in 2001. She was bright, energetic and managed to find fun in whatever she was doing. This attitude made her many friends in School House and beyond, getting involved in sports teams, running the tuck shop, trekking in Argentina on World Challenge and featuring in some memorable house concert performances.

She was fiercely competitive on the sports field, notably the hockey pitch where she was a National Schools Runner Up at U16 level. She toured South Africa with in the 1st XI hockey team, a fearsome centre back willing to put her body on the line for her team on many occasions. 

In 2007 she took a gap year, travelling around the world with friends from Eastbourne before taking her place at Durham University to study biological sciences. Her ‘work hard, play harder’ mindset saw her take part in collegiate sports for Hilde Bede, whilst enjoying some unique student nightlife and achieving her undergraduate BSc with honours. 

In her professional life she brought together her degree with a love of animals to become an ecologist, later specialising in bat conservation. Most recently at Schofield Lothian (now Assystem) she quickly rose through the ranks to become the lead ecologist for HS2 railway projects, where she led her team with the same good humour and supportive nature she showed to her friends.

Bengi lived with her husband, James Youle in Arundel, enjoying fresh air and long walks with their rescue spaniel, Lola. A group of OEs will be taking on the 15 mile, ‘Marsden March’ in May to raise money for the Royal Marsden Hospital. Their pioneering research and treatment offered her hope at the hardest of times when fighting a rare form of melanoma.

You can find out more and sponsor ‘Bengi’s Bats’ team in her memory here.