MY TRIBUTE TO JULIE PIDGELEY

Today I attended the funeral of one of our franchisees – Julie Pidgeley. It is the first time one of our franchisees has died and Julie will be greatly missed by us all – particularly the members of her classes who so loved and respected her. They loved her zest for life, her encouragement, her energy and her unfailing support. Julie totally loved her job of teaching aerobics and helping her members lose weight.

Julie was only 44 years old and it was so sad to see her two lovely daughters, Jennifer, who is 26 and Jemma, who is 24, say good-bye to their mum who they obviously loved so much. It was also heart-breaking for her father and Paul, who had been her husband. Her illness had been very sudden with such devastating consequences. Her sudden death is a shock to everyone who knew and loved her.

The crematorium was overflowing with folk wanting to pay their last respects. We knew Julie loved yellow roses so all her members, fellow franchisees and Quorn House staff who were present, wore a yellow rose in her honour. All the seats were quickly taken and it was a very special sight to see so many kind and caring people standing in every corner and crevice of the room. From the number of yellow roses being worn, it was clear to see that there were many of her RCDFC fans present.

Julie qualified as an aerobics instructor in 2000 and she worked as an employee for our local franchisee in part of Surrey. When the existing franchisee decided to sell her franchise, Julie stepped in and took the big step of becoming a franchisee herself. It was at this stage that I met Julie for the first time and I warmed to her immediately. She attended our Franchise Presentation Day and, after the brief interview that I have with every potential applicant, I filled in the initial form with my comments. I just wrote ‘Will be great!’ I was so confident that Julie would make a success of her franchise and soon she came on the training course at Quorn House.

The extra training rather daunted her as she didn’t feel confident about taking exams so when she received a Distinction for her Nutrition Theory Paper we were all thrilled – particularly Julie!

As soon as Julie took over the franchise her confidence grew and grew and the support she gave to her members was rewarded today. To see so many lovely ladies proudly wearing their yellow roses would have made Julie smile. As one of them commented to me, ‘If Julie had seen this she’d have said: ‘ surely this isn’t for me!’. Well, it was Julie!

But Julie will never be forgotten. We are planting a beautiful tree in her memory at Quorn House. One of Julie’s members said it all when she wrote to us and said: ‘Julie was a wonderful lady and very highly thought of, her classes were so much fun and I will miss her dearly.'

God bless you, Julie.