A member of a Lake District farming family who was for many years active in community life in Glenridding, Hartsop and Patterdale has died aged 94.
Sheena Helen Allen and her husband John lived at Hartsop Hall, Hartsop, for several decades and were involved with a number of events and organisations in the area.
A daughter of Isaac and Helen Brownrigg, she was born at Bald Howe, Matterdale, and subsequently moved with the family to nearby Brook House. She had two brothers, Arthur and Bruce.
Sheena attended school at Matterdale and after completing her education around the start of the Second World War helped out with the family farming enterprise, which was based around sheep and Shorthorn cattle.
With money tight in those days and sources of protein in short supply, she also used to earn a little extra by killing rabbits and selling their meat and skins.
Later, she worked at Boots the Chemists in Penrith, cycling to Penruddock to catch a train into town on the old Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith railway.
She went on to be employed at the old District Bank branch in Penrith.
She met her future husband John at an Ullswater hunt ball in Penruddock after he had returned to the area from serving with the RAF — although she did not at first like the look of him, smoking and chewing gum.
The couple went on to marry in 1948 and initially lived at a house in Hartsop before moving a couple of years later to Hartsop Hall, where they kept sheep and raised Shorthorn heifers to sell. They had three sons, Peter, Richard and Michael.
Sheena was very much part of community life in the area, supporting the Ullswater Foxhounds — as she did throughout her life — being a member of Patterdale WI, worshipping regularly at the village’s St Patrick’s Church and helping with the area’s major annual event, Patterdale dog day.
Her friends in the area included John Rogers, who twice served as vicar at St Patrick’s and became a close friend of the family.
She was also an expert needlewoman and did much to support her husband’s work on the government’s Welsh and English hill farming committees.
The couple made their first visit to South Africa in 1973 and enjoyed many more over the following years, staying with family members — particularly Sheena’s cousin and close friend Di, a member of the Brownrigg family, and her husband Tony.
After retiring from farming, Sheena and John moved to Stainton, where she continued to pursue a number of interests, including helping with the meals on wheels service and working at a cancer charity shop in Penrith.
John died 11 years ago and, although this meant Sheena was on her own for the first time, she remained active.
She is survived by her sons Peter, Bampton Grange; Richard, Goosewell Farm, Keswick; and Michael, Skelsmergh. She had three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
The funeral service was held at St Patrick’s Church, Patterdale. Walker’s Funeral Directors, Penrith, had charge of the arrangements.
