Felicity was a complex and interesting character; intelligent and convivial. She enjoyed travelling and easily made friends. Felicity, or Fizz to her friends, mapped out a remarkable life for herself, living and working in some exalted circles at times.
As many of her contemporaries have moved away or passed away over the years, filling the gaps in her early years is a challenge. Getting 'under her skin' from a family perspective was sometimes a bit of a mystery, with family being more part of the fabric round her life rather than in her life.
Born on the 1st of October 1939 to parents Phyllis and Henry, Felicity had an older brother, John and the family lived in Minster on the Isle of Sheppey. Her brother’s notes about the year read “war declared”. The family were evacuated to both Leatherhead and George Sanders house in Newton Abbot, but then a bomb was dropped in the garden, making a huge crater, so Henry Miles moved them all back to Sheppey as it was just as (un)safe.
Her grandfather before him had been a jeweller and part owner of a Hotel in Sheerness. By all accounts, Felicity’s childhood was happy, despite her early childhood being disrupted by the war, she was indulged and doted upon by her parents.
Felicity attended Kent College in Pembury and gained eight GCEs and met Helen, who remained a lifelong friend, but has now sadly passed away.
Following school Felicity spent a year in St Godric’s College, Hampstead, learning shorthand and typing. Her shorthand speed of 100 words per minute on qualifying was superb; generally, 60-80 WPM is considered good at that point!
Aged just eighteen, with the support of her parents, Felicity travelled first to southern France to study French and then to Austria, where she learnt German. Her ability with languages enabled Felicity to gain employment as a secretary and translator for an international bureau in Monte Carlo.
For six years Felicity lived and worked in the South of France. She found work as a secretary for a yachting agency in Cannes and in 1964 became the Personal Assistant to the Director of a high-end estate agency in Cap d’Antibes. The social life was good too and she enjoyed the finer things in life, the restaurants, food and wine together with good company of course.
Returning to the UK in 1967, Felicity settled for three years back in Minster where she helped her family with running the garage. She acted as bookkeeper and used her organisational skills as secretary there.
Moving to London in her mid-thirties, Felicity was appointed as the PA to the General Secretary of the Dairyman’s Association. The following year she was able to use her language skills as PA to the French Director of an engineering firm and after a short break to care for her father, returned to London.
After a brief spell back in Minster to look after her parents, Felicity became PA to the Company Secretary for an international market research firm then moved into the hospitality industry. Actually, it was the Hyde Park Hotel in Knightsbridge where she worked for the front of house manager before becoming the Reservations’ Manager.
On leaving Hyde Park Hotel, Felicity was back with the Joyce Guinness agency for a couple of years. Now that is an amazing CV! Although it tells us about Felicity’s extraordinary career from Secretary to PA and more, it doesn’t tell us much about Felicity as a person outside her career.
During the ‘London’ years she met a number of lifelong friends, including Gillis, whom she had worked for as part of the Distressed Gentlefolk’s Association. Whilst in London, Felicity found a house in the Mews in the fashionable Sussex Square area of London which she set about renovating to a high standard. She loved her surroundings to be smart and tasteful. Whenever she had a home completed to her satisfaction it was time to move on to renovate another.
Felicity has a collection of photos of her and friends, dogs, cats, as well as the flats she bought and renovated to her high standards, always with slight complications in finalising, that need a bit of family assistance to get over the line.
The family do remember one event, when living near to the Natural History Museum in Knightsbridge, Felicity was once woken by armed police demanding access to the roof. In 1980 there had been a siege at the Iranian Embassy nearby and security was heightened. On this occasion a man had been seen on her roof; it turned out that he was drunk rather than a terrorist. Felicity, of course, took it all in her stride.
It was around this time that Felicity decided to broaden her horizons again. She was an accomplished cook and enjoyed fine wine, so she embarked on a course at Pru Leith’s School of Food and Wine to enhance her skills.
Felicity moved abroad to Italy around 1988-89; where she had plans to use her many skills and interests in a beautiful setting in Italy around Tuscany near Sienna where she could enjoy the Italian cuisine and develop more friendships.
In Tuscany Felicity found a building that she was to develop into rental villa-apartments. She recruited a friend from the UK to help renovate it. When ready, Felicity advertised it in The Lady magazine. She also had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances amongst whom she spread the word.
Felicity wasn’t overly technical. She would invite her brother and his family over for a stay and whilst they were there Felicity would utilise her brother’s help to work on the computer, the website, emails, her finances and much more! In return, they would be treated to a great holiday with food and wine to match.
James and Nick remember times when they visited their aunt at Casano di Sopra in Tuscany. She had olive trees and after the annual harvest the olives would be pressed in the communal press.
As ever, once she had mastered something, Felicity moved on. Selling the villa, she moved a couple more times in Italy in the same area, Podere Sant’angelo, Grosseto, Bagnolo and Empoli amongst others. At one point she met and knew Erin Pizzey, who lived and worked in Siena at the time. Fizz enjoyed interesting and intelligent people and sought out their company.
Always enjoying the lifestyle and still very organised, Felicity latterly spent time as a live-in carer for an elderly gentleman, Armando, who wanted to allow Felicity to live in the property after he died. Their family, however, had other ideas and Felicity was given her marching orders.
Returning to the UK, the ever-pragmatic Felicity searched for somewhere to live with her nephews’ help. She knew some people in the area and had heard that Norfolk was good in retirement, and that the healthcare here for the less young was excellent. In April 2015, James drove his aunt to Norwich where she stayed for a couple of weeks in an Air BnB on Unthank Road.
By May 2015 Felicity had found sheltered accommodation in Edmund Bacon Court on Aylsham Road. She settled in wonderfully, enjoying an excellent social life, made good acquaintances and no doubt, regaled fellow residents with tales of her colourful life!
As ever, Felicity made friendships. She enjoyed many people’s company in and around the Court and area, judging by her Christmas cards, not to mention Betty, who she went cruising with; Helen S, Sue P and Dionne M who helped with more personal care.
Gillis, a former boss and life-long friend remained in contact and Doreen, her sister-in-law, would phone her regularly and there was always company in the residents’ lounge with so many from the Court.
The next few years were happy and contented ones. Mobility issues meant that she moved from the first to the ground floor, but despite this she enjoyed her classical music and continued to cook for herself. Her cupboards there contained all the ingredients for wholesome quality meals. She also had her memories of her interesting and eventful life.
Felicity’s love of travel and animals made very interesting talks with lots of laughs along the way. Helen shared that she saw Felicity every week styling her hair and would see her in between for little chats taking her little dog Teddie which Felicity loved, she would spoil him by giving him a custard cream on every visit. They would talk about her pets that she had in the past, a beautiful cat (Shah the Siamese) and a lovely white dog (Ben the Maremmano) which she missed after they had passed.
Dionne remembered that Fiz always left people at ease after a chat or conversation, with a smile and something positive at the end of it.
Today we haven’t had time to celebrate everything in Felicity’s life; there’s just too much to recount, but I hope we have been able to do her justice in this celebration of her life.
Rest well Felicity, rest well.