Sheena Harold - 1942 to 2023
"She has left her unique mark on the town, in no small way"
Sheena Harold, Chairman of the Teddington Society, died on Monday 9th January 2023 after a brief illness.
Sheena had been active in the Society for some 25 years – where, with colleagues, she instigated the redesign and replanting of two public gardens, actuated hanging flower baskets in the High Street and Broad Street (now taken over by Richmond Council), and relaunched the annual Teddington in Flower event, which over the years has raised many thousands of pounds for local charities.
Together with John Demont, she also organised and launched the town’s Christmas Lights event, the forerunner of today’s Teddington Christmas Festival celebration.
Then in 2013, in partnership with the Landmark Arts Centre and St Mary with St Alban Church, she helped reinstate the annual Teddington Village Fair which, since then, has raised more than £10,000 – all donated to local charities.
In addition to her Society work, Sheena did much more besides, not just in Teddington but also across the Borough of Richmond. She was, for example, on the Richmond in Bloom committee, and she judged numerous private and school gardens each year until 2020. This was an important part of her life; she loved flowers and was very knowledgeable about plants.
So for these and her other contributions, it was entirely fitting that in 2017 Sheena was presented with the Richmond Borough Community Award for her outstanding public service.
Sheena was the daughter of Angus and Anne Mackay – her father being the legendary BBC producer of radio’s long-running Sports Report, which he launched in 1948 and produced until 1972. It seemed only natural that she would follow him into the BBC.
Before that, however, Sheena started her media career at Fleetway Publications, working as a journalist on high-circulation magazines for teenagers including Valentine, Mirabelle and Roxy. Then she moved to FAB 208, where she worked with other writers such as Neil Aspinall and Quentin Crewe, and she organised photoshoots with many of the biggest pop stars of the day. At the same time, she also ran the Everly Brothers Fan Club in the UK.
In 1966 Sheena Harold moved to the BBC World Service at Bush House in London, where she produced and sometimes presented programmes for the Far East, Africa and Science units. She remained at Bush House for the rest of her professional life and described working there as “being in a mini-United Nations”.
Sheena was educated locally at Newland House Primary School and Thames Valley Grammar School, now Waldegrave School. In 1981 she married Ernest (Ernie) Harold, to whom she was devoted. He was a specialist blueprint drawer by profession, and he died in March 2007.
In her long association with the Teddington Society, Sheena was variously Press and Publicity Officer, Trees and Gardens Convener, Editor of Tidings, Vice Chairman and, finally, Chairman.
Paying tribute, John Demont, a Vice President and former Chairman of the Teddington Society, said, "Sheena was trained by the BBC, so she was an excellent communicator, and this underlined everything she did – she was a good writer, and verbally very persuasive. Her commitment to the Society was absolute, and she has left her unique mark on the town in no small way.”
And Baroness Hilton, former Chair and now President of the Society, said, “During my eight years as Chair, Sheena was the prime mover of all events. It was her energy and enthusiasm that lay behind Teddington in Flower, the Christmas Lights and the Summer Fair. Without her ability to cajole people into taking part, these and other events would not have been so successful. She will be greatly missed.”
Sheena’s ‘thing’ about words
A personal tribute by Peter Denton, a former editor of Tidings and a past Vice Chairman of the Teddington Society.
“Chairman. I am the chairman,” Sheena Harold told me, with a steely eye. “I am not an object to be sat on.”
Indeed she wasn’t – literally or metaphorically. Despite her soft voice and great personal charm, she could be firm, even stubborn, when it suited her. And this was one such occasion.
I was editor of Tidings at the time, and had suggested in passing that the word ‘chairman’ was out of date and gender-specific. So how about ‘chair’? She would have none of it, and wouldn’t even consider ‘chairwoman’. The subject never arose again.
Sheena had a thing about words, and she knew how to use them. It was no surprise, then, to discover that she was an avid listener to Round Britain Quiz on Radio 4; she enjoyed a bit of cryptic, lateral thinking, and RBQ was, for her, the daddy of them all.
It’s also true to say that she used words persuasively. She was renowned for getting her way, and many was the time when someone who’d been cajoled would say “How did I get talked into that? Why did I agree…?” Whether she was addressing councillors on a matter at the heart of Teddington, or a parish consultation, a classroom, a group of pensioners or an annual meeting, she was persuasive – which is just one reason why she was such an effective Chair… er, Chairman.
Mind you, she could be dismissive and snappy too, as anyone who fell out with would attest. But such occasions were relatively few and far between.
Sheena was notable for the way she dressed, always preferring loose-fitting trouser suits and wafting floral scarves. And with her heavy-rimmed glasses, she was an instantly recognisable figure in Teddington.
She lived in a detached house with a large garden, which she inherited from her parents. And anyone who ever visited her there will never forget the experience: she was, quite simply, a hoarder of the first order. The house was full to overflowing with ornaments, bric-a-brac, early coronation mugs (she was a devoted monarchist), teddy bears, faded photographs, Christmas cards from way back when, old invitation cards from the great and good, plus piles of letters, newspapers and magazines.
Her old conservatory, bursting with potted plants, led out to the garden which was full of mature trees, shrubs and flowers, all of which she knew by species and name. She had several bird tables which she kept well-stocked, and she was rewarded with constant flights of avian visitors. She delighted in the fact that a family of foxes had taken up residence among the trees, as well.
In her later years after the death of her husband Ernie, the love of her life, the Teddington Society became Sheena’s raison d’etre. She devoted more time to it than was probably good for her, but she loved it beyond measure. Her principal ambition for 2023 was to be at the helm for the Society’s 50th anniversary, after which she said she would probably retire – but that, as we now know, was not to be.
She has left us now, but we have a trove of memories. She was by any measure unique, a never to be repeated one-off, and an altogether remarkable woman. For anyone who knew, liked or even loved her, she’s irreplaceable. So this small tribute is by way of offering thanks to Sheena – for her unceasing activity, her devotion to the Society and to the wider Teddington community, and for her warmth, generosity, humour… oh, and the occasional glass of Prosecco, too! May she rest in well-earned peace, because over the years she’s done us all proud. And in doing us proud, we know she wouldn’t have had it any other way.
22 Jan 23