Cecilia Hooley

Forever in our hearts...

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As most of you visiting this site will know, my wife Cecilia (or ‘Leesher’ as she's known to some of us) passed away on 3 September 2007, aged 30.

Cecilia had a genetic condition called neurofibromatosis - on a roughly annual basis she needed to go into hospital to have tumours removed. Sadly, on her last visit she developed an aneurism and didn’t survive.

This tribute website has been set up largely in response to all the events that have occurred since Cecilia’s death, in particular those events that have stemmed from or been instigated by her work colleagues at the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea which I thought should be recorded. Putting this on a website seems the most appropriate way to document it.

Despite what I’ve said previously on this site (about this not being a photo gallery website), there are now a number of photos that have found their way on here! So I guess it is now a photo gallery website. There are photos from Cecilia’s life on the sister site 'Stair 'n' Leesher's Photos and Stuff', which I’ve been maintaining since early 2005.

Although Cecilia’s main interest was in craft and in particular card-making, she'd discovered the delights of real ale (thanks to me!) and we regularly attended beer festivals around London and occasionally further afield. I started producing the RealAleCast podcasts early in 2007 and managed to persuade Cecilia to host the Ealing Beer Festival podcast in May 2007.

Cecilia was in the process of starting a stationery business primarily catering for weddings but also covering other events. She wanted to turn her craft skills into a money earner. I’ve kept all of her designs, the design stage was sadly as far as she had got in the set up of the business. The aim was to run the business from a website so I bought the ceciliahooley.com domain for that purpose.

Links to topics and activities detailed above can be found under 'Related Links' on the left, including the WAY Foundation. WAY is a charitable organisation that provides a social and support network for those who are widowed and young. I recently joined WAY and I've found it comforting to meet individuals who have gone through similar tragedies.

I think it fitting to use ceciliahooley.com as a tribute to Cecilia. I hope you enjoy your visit.

Alastair Hooley