Sheila Arnold

Sheila at Pam and Dennis’s 80th party. That was an amazing day – the sun shone and everyone enjoyed it. Sheila looked fabulous in that colour

Pictures of Sheila and Ewart on their wedding day, Church of Bishop Andrewes, 15th December, 1956

Sheila in her bike racing days: August 1980. She loved her cycling and always kept herself super fit

We lived opposite Sheila for many years, until October 2013, when we moved to West Sussex, but really only got to know her from March 2001, when Ewart died. She was a fiercely independent lady and it took a while to get to know the real Sheila, but as time went on she became a good friend to us all, including our two sons, Alex and Ollie. She would often join us for meals and cared for our cats when we went away. She enjoyed our crazy New Year’s Eve parties where Sheila let her hair down, even taking part in ‘the best hat competition’ (see photo). Knowing her love of cycling, we took her up to Box Hill in July 2012 (see race photo) to see the World’s best cyclists for the Olympic Road Race Event. We joined the hundreds who lined the roads to cheer on Mike Cavendish and Chris Froome, it is one of the special memories we will always have of our time with Sheila, when we all joined in her great excitement! Sheila loved Vaughn Williams, Bruckner and Elgar, and, well, most of the classics. We went several times to the Proms, enjoying sublime moments. Especially Bruckner’s 7th and Elgar’s Enigma Variations! Once we moved to West Sussex, Sheila again joined us for long week ends and she loved our new house. It was she who chose the 2 kittens we adopted from the Cats Protection League. We still have Perky with us. She often spent Christmas with us in front of the log fire and enjoyed a glass of red wine, or two. She adored doing jigsaws and we often gave her one as gift.  We remained in touch by phone in 2020, but we are so sad that due to Covid, and my own breast cancer treatment that we didn’t see Sheila before she died. We think Sheila was very fond of us, and we certainly loved her. We will always remember her with huge affection and with very happy memories. God bless you Sheila xx