Former Eden woman Wendy Hardy Sharp died suddenly on 24th June at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary with her grandchildren, Annabel and Katriana Prior, at her bedside.
Born in Barrow-in-Furness in 1940, Wendy was the only daughter of Joan and Oswald Partington, who owned the Heather Glen Country Club in Ainstable in the 1950s.
She will be sadly missed by her friend, Paul Sanderson, daughter Jackie Matthews, and grandchildren Annabel, Katriana, Amanda Matthews and Charles Matthews.
Wendy, who was married to Arthur Keith Sharp, a dentist in Little Dockray, Penrith, for 43 years, was a talented woman who studied art at Carlisle College of Art.
She also navigated at RAC rallies and modelled at the former Bulloughs department store in Carlisle, as well as being a loving mother of two girls, Jackie Matthews and the late Julie Prior.
She became a successful A-level art teacher at Lime House School, Dalston, and was an accomplished window dresser across the North West for The Edinburgh Woollen Mill.
Occasionally helped by Mr. J. G. Stamper, she drove a small lorry and ran a successful business providing cookery and flower arranging at her home, Salkeld Hall, at Little Salkeld, for various groups, including the WI.
Wendy was a keen gardener, cook and entertainer. She held lavish parties for friends, family and the local Deer Society, of which her husband was a member.
She loved their house being full of children, animals and activities such as tennis, croquet and horse riding. She encouraged the local children to pop in for biscuits and to pick daffodils from the paddock.
There will be an unattended cremation at Eden Valley Crematorium and a small private memorial in Chichester.
