The Lazonby community lost an active member who put the needs of others before her own with the death of Fiona Sim, aged 59.
Fiona died at the Eden Valley Hospice, Carlisle, with her husband Rob and mum Jean at her side after bravely battling cancer, having been taken ill in January, 2023.
One of two children of Jean and the late George Hall, Fiona was born in Carlisle. She had a brother, Andrew. When Fiona was young the family moved for a few years to Stamford Bridge and then Downham Market, in Norfolk, before returning to Cumbria to live in Penrith.
After gaining her A-levels at the town’s Queen Elizabeth Grammar School she attended the University of Manchester, where she was awarded a degree in nursing and also qualifications as a district nurse, health visitor and registered general nurse.
She took up her first job at Booth Hall Children’s Hospital, in Manchester, and in 1987 returned to Cumbria as a health visitor in Carlisle. Over the following years she worked from a number of locations, including Brampton, Temple Sowerby, Appleby and Penrith.
Fiona also spent time working on the NHS 111 telephone service and later at the Jigsaw Children’s Hospice, in Carlisle. In 2018 she was honoured to be one of nine people invited to York Minster to represent the North Cumbria NHS Trust at the 70th birthday celebrations for the NHS.
It was in May of 1990 that she married Rob and they went on to live in Great Corby before moving to Lazonby in June, 1994. They had three sons, Jonny, Tom and Ed.
Fiona willingly gave her time to many causes, volunteering on the village school support group, working in the kiosk at Lazonby pool, being active with First Responders and listening to children reading at the school.
More recently, she helped the village hall committee with a project to refurbish the hall cottage into a flat for Ukrainian refugees. She also established an autism support group for parents.
At the time she was taken ill, she and Rob were in the final stages of applying for a visa to take in a young Ukrainian couple through the Homes for Ukraine scheme, but as a result of her illness that had to be cancelled. In 2004 she took part in a fundraising charity trek in the Andes mountains in Peru, raising £4,200 for a cot death charity. Thanks to the generosity of Lazonby School pupils and their parents she was able to present a duffle bag full of crayons, pencils and other useful items to the children of Quisuarani School, high in the mountains.
Fiona always enjoyed holidays and exploring new countries. Music also played an important part in her life and she and Rob regularly attended concerts, with one of her favourite artists being Bryan Adams, who they went to see four times.
Fiona was born with a double major scoliosis of the spine and this resulted in her having one hip replaced in 2013 and the second in 2018. Both operations were successful but after the second it became clear her back was deteriorating and in March, 2020, she had to take early retirement from her job as a specialist infant feeding co-ordinator.
Despite this, Fiona stayed as active as she could, with a daily physio and stretches routine as well as shorter walks using crutches to ease the load on her back.
Fiona always enjoyed art and craft work, making her own greetings cards. Once retired, she started attending weekly art classes in Warcop village hall, where her talent shone through.
Fiona will be remembered by all who knew her as a kind, caring and generous person who always put the needs of others first. Many of the messages of sympathy received by her family described her as being as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside.
She is survived by her husband Rob, Lazonby; mother Jean, Penrith; brother Andrew, Penrith; and sons Jonny, of Pangbourne, near Reading; Tom, Edinburgh; and Ed, Lazonby.
Fiona’s funeral service was held at Eden Valley Crematorium and led by celebrant Veronika Robinson. There was standing room only, with an estimated 200 people in attendance.
Donations totalling nearly £4,000 have been received in her memory to be divided between Brain Tumour Research, Eden Valley Hospice and Maggie’s cancer support charity. Her brother Andrew is also fundraising and has raised more than £2,500 for Eden Valley Hospice.
