It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that my wife, Camilla, died peacefully and in no pain on January 19th 2020. Camilla was born on 29 April 1938, she was 81 years old. After leaving Downe House, and before we were married, Camilla worked for Sir Bernard Lovell, who was the boss of the UK’s large radio telescope at Jodrell Bank, which was close to her family home in Cheshire. We were married when she was twenty three in October 1960. We were married for fifty nine years with three children & eight grandchildren. 

I was in business and travelled extensively. Camilla frequently came with me and, with holidays abroad included, she travelled in every continent including Antarctica and travelled in at least sixty five countries. We had some marvellous adventures together. At home she created a wonderful garden at our former home of forty seven years, Brinkley House on the Cambridgeshire/Suffolk borders. 

Camilla carried out a wide range of local charity work. Someone called her ‘the mother of Brinkley’. For a while she was chairman of the Cambridgeshire branch of the DGAA, which became the Elizabeth Finn Trust and is now Turn2Us. We ‘down-gardened’ to our current house in Moulton (9 miles from Brinkley) in 2012. 

Camilla was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia in 2015 and died after ten days in hospital following a massive stroke on 19 January this year. A Thanks-giving service took place at Moulton Church on Tuesday 4th February. 

Written by: 

Julian Pardoe