Judy Ann Scanlan (21 Jun 1935 - 3 Apr 2025)

Judy was born in Romford, Essex on 21st June 1935, the only daughter to Harold and Doris Newman.

In 1940, after the outbreak of WW2, she was evacuated to Hayle, in Cornwall. Where she lived for five years, before returning, in 1945, to the family home in Romford.

In 1947 she went to the Sacred Heart of Mary, Girls’ School in Upminster, Essex. Judy left school in 1952 and started at the South Essex Technology college studying shorthand and typing.

Travel was a great passion of Judy’s. At the age of 14 she went on a 3-month trip to Sweden, living with the family of a pen pal. At 17, she hitch-hiked to Cornwall with a girlfriend, and the following year, aged 18, she cycled from London to Paris with two school friends.

In 1954, aged 19, Judy found work as a model for Motolux Coats at their showroom in Conduit Street, in the West End of London.

In February 1957, at the age of 22, Judy, set sail from Tilbury Docks on the Cape Town Castle steamship to Cape Town, South Africa. From there she caught the train to Bulawayo, Rhodesia to attend her school friend’s wedding. She met her future husband, Bob, in Bulawayo.

Three years later, aged 25, Judy returned to England to marry at St Edward the Confessor Church, Romford. She lived, with her husband, in a small attic flat in Hatch End, North London where her two sons, Christopher and Nicholas, were born.

In the late 1960s she moved, with her young family, from London to Bearsted in Kent.

She settled into life in Kent quickly, working as Akela in the local cub scout troop, delivering meals on wheels to the local community, and in 1979 was a founder member of the Bearsted and Thurnham Tennis Club.

Sadly, in 1985 her marriage to Bob broke up, and six years later, in 1991, Judy reluctantly sold the family home in Bearsted. She then spent two years sofa surfing before, in September 1993, she moved to Tunbridge Wells, buying her treasured garden flat in Beulah Road.

She fitted in quickly to life in Royal Tunbridge Wells. She joined the Tunbridge Wells Ramblers association, leading many walks on a Wednesdays and organising the annual Christmas lunch. She even spent a few years as treasurer of the local association.

She became a member of both the Pembury and Tunbridge Wells Bridge Clubs and was an active member of the U3A association, attending many talks and group outings.

In February 2004 Judy travelled to Auckland, New Zealand, where her son Nicholas married Jackie. Judy’s first grandchild, Savana, was born in 2007 and her second, Danni, two years later.