This site is a tribute to Penny, who was born in Reading on August 11, 1948. She is much loved and will always be remembered.

Penny and her sister, Sara, grew up in a close and loving family in the Caversham area of Reading, in a family that was probably the last generation that all stayed in one area. Uncles and aunts and Sunday lunches and Saturday teas and Christmas and Boxing Day parties were as regular as clockwork, year after year.
In recent years, Penny took on and enjoyed the role of Matriarch of the family. The fact that families are scattered all over the country nowadays did not deter Penny, who would spend every night, while I was in the pub ‘early doors’, phoning and keeping up with all the family.

Following Secretarial College, Penny worked for Brookes Estate Agents in Oxford and, after a couple of years, decided to have a summer season break working in the Sunnycliffe Hotel in Salcombe. This was 1968 and I can remember the first time we met, in the Harbour Lights Café, opposite the Galley Restaurant. It was the days when hotels did not have TV’s in the bedroom. Us hotel staff worked hard and played hard, drinking late at the Galley courtesy of Charlie Yabsley, ‘but you’ll have to have a sandwich because of our supper license!’ The many hotel cocktail bars that that were open till late also provided us with a great social life that we were to maintain throughout our 52 years together.

The season over, Penny went to work in London and I went to Catering College. After 2 years of long-distance romance, I asked Penny’s father, Dick, if I could marry her. I expected him to say ‘finish College first and get a job’ but to our surprise and delight he and Penny’s mother, Joyce, gave their blessing and we were married in August 1970 and me with still a year of studying still to go in Torquay.

Once qualified, it was up to London where we shared a flat with my future brother-in-law, Bob, in Sinclair Road, Shepherd’s Bush. 2 bedrooms, a small kitchen off one, and the bathroom down three steps in the public corridor. Penny was the PA to the head of a property company whose offices were in Arlington Street, right by The Ritz.

In about 1974 we bought the first of three houses in Teddington and our daughter, Sophie was born that year, followed 2 years later by our son Patrick. Happy days in Teddington, for 15 years, with Penny bringing up the family and making ends meet with foreign student boards. I have checked with friends, and, in those days our wives really did have to do everything at home. Raising kids, cooking and entertaining whilst us husbands swanned in at 7.00 or 8.00 in the evening, with the kids tucked up in bed.
In the mid 80’s we had a big move up to Cheshire, where Penny was in her element back with the horses she loved to ride as a child. There were many new friends.
Having spent ten years in a quite grand house in Cheshire, a lady of leisure, able to raise and enjoy her family and social life, my career path with big companies ran out of steam. The result was that, in 1996, Penny and I ended up moving from Cheshire and buying a small seasonal hotel in Hope Cove.
 
So, from living in a 4 bedroomed house with an acre of garden Penny found herself living in a downstairs bedroom in a 12 bedroomed hotel, working 7 days a week during the season, playing mine host and humouring the guests.
I was ‘back of house’ doing the cooking. So, the credit for what turned out to be a very successful hotel with more and more repeat bookings was entirely due to Penny’s front of house skills, her confidence in dealing with people and putting them at their ease.
She never complained at the change in circumstances. She never commented on my career decisions or talked about ‘what ifs……’.
She simply accepted the situation and created a way of life down in Hope Cove that none of the family has ever regretted. We sold the hotel in 2006 and I am so thankful that we have been able to enjoy the last 24 years to the full, with so many friends in this unique village of Hope Cove.

Looking through our photo albums, to make up a slide show for this tribute, I realise that Penny and I have so much to be grateful for. Good and close family, wonderful friends, exotic holidays in the Far East and cruises in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and even from Singapore to home. And in the last ten years, a wonderful second home, in Lanzarote, with yet again, more lovely friends.
 I am only sorry that it has all come to an end.

Finally, I have not dwelt much on Penny’s character, she wore her heart on her sleeve and you all knew her so well.
But a cousin, Lucy, wrote a wonderful letter of condolence which, to my mind, says it all, and I have Lucy’s permission to share it, with you, in this tribute.

Dear Nick,
I cannot begin to find the words to express how I feel about losing Penny. Quite simply she was there at every difficult moment in my life. I will never forget the both of you hugging me at the hospital when I lost my mum. I remember that first Christmas when you welcomed us at Tanfield and turned a difficult moment into a happy one surrounded by family. I will be forever grateful to you both for flying me up to Lille to be with you when I was upset and alone. I'll always remember fun visits to Hope Cove where we would gossip and Penny would tell me stories about the Francis family - she was such an important connection to those who had gone before. Not to mention the family get togethers at Tanfield where she would cry with laughter in the company of her cousins. Other  happy moments were your wedding anniversary in Cadgwith when we all sang "there's only one Nick and Penny" and seeing her dancing at my wedding.


Penny was at the centre of our family and we will all feel her loss immensely. Whilst she will be desperately missed by so many the greatest loss is to you, Sophie, Jacob, Max and Patrick. Despite the Basil and Sybil act we all know how devoted you were to each other and I'm sure that it comforts more than just me to know that she spent her final hours at home in the arms of the man she loved.