Doreen Weatherhead was a formidable woman – who was proud of her Bajan heritage. She is a former Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Councillor who served her Pembridge Ward for 47 years. She was also my godmother.
My mother – Dorothy Burton (nee Boyce) – and Doreen met while taking their entrance exams for Queen’s College in 1941. They became life-long best friends and wrote and spoke to each other weekly. At school they were known as Do and Dor.
When we moved from Trinidad in 1970 and my father went to work for Shell in Nigeria – my sister, Susan and I went to boarding school in the UK. Doreen became our guardian. In fact Doreen was the go-to Bajan in London to many Bajans coming to the UK either to school or university or to train or for medical reasons.
My sister and I used to spend exeat weekends at Aunty Doreen’s flat at Clanricarde Gardens in Kensington – and if it happened to be election time, payback was we were out with a tick sheet leafleteering and electioneering.
Doreen’s spare room at Clanricarde Gardens in Kensington was used regularly by Bajan visitors to London and her hallway wardrobe held a rotating collection of coats left behind by grateful visitors.
Doreen’s parents were Major Cyril Weatherhead and Mrs. Inez Weatherhead who lived in Pine Gardens, St. Michael, Barbados. She had a younger brother Harold.
Doreen’s primary education in Barbados was at St. Ursula’s School (The Ursuline Convent) and then from age 11 her secondary school was Queen’s College.
Before and after World War II her father worked for SP Musson & Son. During the War her father was the Adjutant for the Barbados Regiment and during that time the family lived in the Garrison. After the war they returned to their own house Madron in Pine Gardens (the first three letters of Doreen and her brother Harold’s middle names!)
The War came to Barbados on Friday 11th September 1942 when German U-Boat 514 torpedoed the CNS Cornwallis, moored in Carlisle Bay, opposite the Royal Barbados Yacht Club.
That event might have been thwarted had the report that Doreen called in, was believed. She had seen U-514 surface a few hours earlier outside of the reef at Maxwell where she was staying with her Godparents Uncle B (Bertram deVere Grogan) and Aunty Doris (Doris Grogan). Her godfather’s father, was the Christ Church Parochial Treasurer and they lived at Hythe on the Maxwell Coast.
Doreen said while playing in the sea near Hythe on Friday 11th September 1942, there was a big swell and when she looked up there was German U-Boat 514 which had surfaced outside of the reef. She tells the story of how she clearly saw an officer in the conning tower, two sailors running across the deck and the markings on the conning tower.
Without rushing, in case it aroused the suspicions of the German sailors, Doreen got out of the sea. Once out of sight she rushed back to Hythe where Doreen immediately phoned her father at the Garrison.
Doreen’s story was not believed at the time because she was only ten years old, and nothing had been reported by the coastal lookout units along the coast to corroborate her story.
Doreen’s encounter with U-Boat 514 is described in Pat Callender’s book “Flight Paths & Missing Connections @ Barbados. A Memoir”. That was a story I had recounted to me many times over the years. The one thing Doreen was never able to understand was how nobody in Oistins or down the Maxwell Coast had not also seen the German U-Boat 514 when it surfaced!
Doreen’s mother Inez Weatherhead used to make the most magnificent Guava Cheese and Shaddock Rind which was sold in Bridgetown in the Women’s Self Help Store in little grease proof paper packages tied with fine string.
A pack of Mrs. Weatherhead’s Guava Cheese was sent annually to Queen Elizabeth ll.
The Queen had been introduced to Mrs. Weatherhead’s Guava Cheese after a dinner party held by the Governor General of Barbados Sir Arleigh Winston Scott for the Queen and Prince Philip during her Silver Jubilee tour of Barbados on 31st October 1977.
The Queen so enjoyed the Guava Cheese that the Governor General’s wife, Lady Rosita May Scott (née Hynam), gave the Queen two packets to take home – which was the start of a tradition. While Doreen’s mother was alive – Doreen used to deliver annually a package of Guava Cheese to the Royal Household at Buckingham Palace.
In 1950 Doreen came to Britain to train as a radiographer at St George’s Hospital qualifying as a State Registered Radiographer. In those days George’s was at Hyde Park Corner, where the Lanesborough Hotel is now located.
Doreen arrived in England in March 1950 by boat with a trunk and her bicycle. While training to be radiographer she lived in St. George’s accommodation at Lancaster Gate and used to cycle to George’s at Hyde Park Corner through the Park.
My mother went to McGill University. She so disliked her Home Economics course that in 1951 Dor joined Do in London at George’s where, she too trained as a Radiographer!
In 1951 Doreen joined the Young Conservatives as a way to meeting young people and held a number of active roles such as Branch Secretary and Chairman to Divisional Treasurer an Vice-Chairman.
In 1953 at Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation Do and Dor, between shifts, watched the procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace from the roof of St. George’s Hospital. The Royal procession following the Coronation of the Queen went from Westminster Abbey and proceeded along a five-mile route, passing through Whitehall, Pall Mall, St James’s Street, Piccadilly to Marble Arch along Oxford Street, Regent Street passing Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, along Haymarket through Admiralty Arch and then back to Buckingham Palace. St. George’s was perfectly positioned to see the procession as it came down Piccadilly and then headed up Park Lane to Marble Arch.
A lasting impression which both Do and Dor witnessed from the roof of St. George’s was seeing the towering monarch of Tonga, Queen Sālote Tupou III, who out of respect for the new Queen, rode in an open carriage in the pouring rain on her journey from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace. That too was a story that I had recounted to me many times over the years.
In the 1950s Doreen and my mother lived in South Paddington. From 1958 Doreen lived in Kensington initially at Lancaster Gate and then in a flat in Clanricharde Gardens. That was the place I and many Bajans associate with Doreen. There was the grand stairs up from the entrance with her bathroom and kitchen on the mezzanine floor with her flat on the first floor level with two bedrooms, and a lounge and a balcony above the entrance.
Doreen’s first foray into local politics was in 1962 when she stood unsuccessfully in St. Charles Ward to be a councillor.
Two years later in 1964 Doreen was elected to Kensington & Chelsea Borough Council for Pembridge Ward. A position she held until 1971. Between 1971 – 1974 Doreen was co-opted to the Health Committee. Doreen was then re-elected in 1974 and served the Pembridge Ward until May 2014 when she retired.
In 1979 – 1980 Doreen served as Deputy Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea serving Mayor Christopher Walford who was in 1994 elected as the Lord Mayor of London.
While Doreen was Deputy Mayor I was a student studying in London. During that time I would often get a call – “Peter, I need an escort tonight“. The RBK&C Mayor’s Rolls Royce would pick me up, a block or so from my Hall of Residence, and then return me home after the event having dropped Aunty Doreen back home.
In 1994 – 1995 in the same year that Sir Christopher Walford was Lord Mayor of London, Doreen was elected as Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Her Deputy was Edward Hess who would himself be Mayor in 1997.
Doreen became the first non-English Major of the the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Her mother Inez Weatherhead travelled to England to witness the event.
In an interview in October 1994 Doreen told Sunday Life journalist Sonji Philips: “I came to England to study and I was determined to finish. When I had finished I had made so many friends and I loved the hospital that I stayed there for five years. Then I came home for a vacation and I missed England so much I had to go back“.
In that same interview Doreen went on to say she became involved in politics in her adopted home of London because she saw it as a way of meeting young people especially West Indians.
Cllr. Richard Walker-Arnott who proposed Barbadian Doreen to be Mayor said of her: “In all her committee work she has been tireless in serving the interest of the Borough’s residents – the service has given to the residents of her ward was acknowledged when they retuned her to this Council Chamber with an increased share of the vote. Doreen is woman of strong conviction who rarely shrinks from expressing her views in forthright language and as new Mayor will fair and firm in her dealings“.
Cllr. Ernest Thomblin who seconded her nomination for Mayor said “her [Doreen’s] long service in public life is known throughout the Royal Borough. Her involvement with the Health Authorities, the Family Service Unit and the Police Liaison Groups has introduces her to the diverse character of Kensington & Chelsea. It is her remarkable ability to mix with all social and ethnic groups that will make her an ideal candidate for Mayor of this most prestigious Royal Borough“.
Over the years Doreen served on numerous committees and held many leadership roles within the council, including:
- Chair of the Libraries Committee (1970–1971)
- Chair of the Libraries and General Services Committee (1978–1980)
- Chair of the Works Committee (1984–1986)
- Chair of the Highways and Traffic Committee (1991–1993)
- Chair of the Regulation and Enforcement Review Committee (2001–2014)
Doreen’s work covered areas that shaped everyday life in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea — from libraries and public services to roads, regulation and community services. In recognition of this in July 2015 Doreen was made an Honorary Alderman of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
Doreen Weatherhead’s service to the the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea lasted 47 years, from 1964 until 2014, making her one of the borough’s longest-serving councillors.
Beyond her council responsibilities, Doreen contributed significantly to external organisations. As a West Indian she was proud to serve as a trustee of the Pepper Pot Day Centre which is a charity based in Ladbroke Grove, West London, that supports elderly people from the African, Caribbean, and Black & Minority Ethnic communities.
Doreen’s dedication reflected a deep commitment to local democracy and community life. Over decades of change in Kensington & Chelsea, she remained a constant presence in civic life.
Doreen Weatherhead’s life represents several remarkable achievements:
- A Barbadian immigrant who built a life of public service in Britain.
- A pioneering Caribbean woman in local government in the UK.
- Nearly half a century of civic leadership.
- Service as both Deputy Mayor and as Mayor of a major London Borough.
Doreen’s career embodies public service, perseverance, and community dedication. For nearly half a century she gave her time, her energy and her heart to the people she served within the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. The Royal Borough was her UK family.
Tributes to the Former Mayor and Councillor, Honorary Alderman Miss. Doreen Weatherhead were made at the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Full Council Meeting on Wednesday 25th February 2026.
Tributes were made by the Mayor Cllr. Tom Bennett, Cllr. Joanna Gardner (who took over from Doreen as councillor for Pembridge Ward in 2014), Cllr. Linda Wade, Cllr. David Lindsay, Cllr. Mary Weale and Cllr. Dori Schmetterling.
Click on this link to see the live feed – note the full RBK&C meeting went on for over 3 hours. The Tributes to Doreen start at: 3 minutes and 28 seconds (208 seconds) and finish at: 16 minutes and 7 seconds (967 seconds).
Remembering Doreen Madolin Weatherhead
Doreen’s funeral and memorial service was held at St Mary Abbotts in Kensington on Tuesday 21st April 2026 at 2pm. It was led by Mthr. Emma Dinwiddy Smith, Vicar of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Parish church.
In attendance at the funeral service was by the current Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, Cllr. Tom Bennett and the Mayoress Beatrice Bennett.
The Barbados High Commissioner HE Edmund Hinkson was unable to attend and was represented by Ms. Betty Lewis, Diaspora Attaché.
In addition to friends and family, current Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea officials, there were at least 12 past Mayors in attendance.
Following the service there were refreshments in the Mayor’s Parlour at the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
At Doreen’s funeral eulogies and tributes were given by:
- Peter Burton – her Godson focusing on her life in Barbados.
- Lord Moylan for the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Daniel Moylan worked with Doreen as a councillor at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea from 1986 until he stood down in 2018.
- Julie Mills representing Howard Jeffrey, the Chairman of the Pepperpot Club which was setup by his mother, the late Pansy Jeffrey in 1981. Doreen served on the board of trustees of the Pepper Pot Centre for nearly 16 years. Beyond her role as a long-serving councillor of 47 years and former Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea, Doreen contributed significantly to the centre as part of her community service.
Howard Jeffery was unable to attend in person as he and the Pepperpot Club staff and club members were travelling to Tenerife on 21st April 2026. - At the reception held in the Mayor’s Parlour after the funeral, the past Mayor for the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (2005-2006) Warwick Lightfoot made a toast to the life of Doreen with Bajan Rum Punch shots. He thanked the Mayor for the use of the parlour, thanked everyone that was able to attend this celebration of the life of Doreen Weatherhead and reminisced about his time as a councillor working with Doreen and how she taught and guided young councillors through the working of the Borough and what an efficient operator she was running council business.
Eulogy by Peter Burton
Thank you for coming to this celebration of the life of Doreen Weatherhead and for braving the London Tube Stike which started at noon today.
Today we remember a remarkable and formidable Bajan woman who was my Godmother. She served the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea for 47 years as councillor for Pembridge Ward and was Deputy Mayor in 1979 and Mayor in 1994.
Doreen and my mother first met as girls, sitting the entrance exams for Queen’s College in Barbados. Doreen was born on 5th November 1931. My mother was born on 6th November 1931. From that day on, they were inseparable “Do and Dor” – lifelong friends.
In 1950, Doreen came to Britain to train as a radiographer at St. George’s Hospital. She arrived by boat with a trunk and a bicycle. As a student, she cycled daily through Hyde Park to St George’s Hospital. Back then George’s was situated at Hyde Park Corner, where The Lanesborough hotel now stands, next to Hyde Park Corner tube station.
A year later in 1951, my mother Dor – having decided McGill University in Canada was not for her – joined Do in London at St. George’s where she too trained as a Radiographer!
Doreen grew up in Pine Hill, St Michael, Barbados, the daughter of Cyril and Inez Weatherhead.
During World War II, Doreen’s father, Captain Weatherhead, served as Adjutant of the Barbados Regiment, and the family lived in quarters at the Garrison Barracks.
The War came to Barbados on Friday 11th September 1942 when German U-Boat 514 torpedoed the Canadian Steamer Cornwallis moored in Carlisle Bay at about 4.30pm in the afternoon.
A few hours prior to that attack Doreen had seen U-Boat 514 surface outside of the reef at Maxwell where she was staying with her Godparents. Doreen says she clearly saw an officer in the conning tower, two sailors running across the deck and the markings on the conning tower.
That event might have been thwarted, and, maybe, changed history, had the story that Doreen called in, been believed. It was rejected as Doreen was just 10 years old and nothing had been reported by the coastal look-out units to corroborate her story.
Doreen’s mother Inez Weatherhead was renowned for her guava cheese and shaddock rind which was sold in Bridgetown at the Women’s Self Help Store.
In 1977, during Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee visit to Barbados, Mrs. Weatherhead’s Guava Cheese was served at a dinner party held by Governor General, Sir Winston Scott.
The Queen so enjoyed the Guava Cheese that the Governor General’s wife, gave the Queen two packets of Mrs. Weather’s guava cheese to take home.
That was the start of a tradition. While Doreen’s mother was alive – each year Doreen personally delivered a package of Mrs. Weather’s Guava Cheese to the Royal Household at Buckinghan Palace.In 1958, Doreen moved to Clanricarde Gardens – her home for decades, and the place I will always associate with her.
In the 1970s, when my father worked in Nigeria, Doreen was guardian to my sister Susan and me. We would spend exeat weekends at her flat. And, if it happened to be election time, we earned our keep delivering election fliers.
Doreen was the go-to person for Bajans coming to England to either study or for medical treatment. Her spare room at Clanricarde Gardens was rarely empty, and her hallway wardrobe held a rotating collection of coats left behind by grateful visitors.
While Doreen was Deputy Mayor in 1979, I was a student studying in London. During that time I would often get a call: “Peter, I need an escort on such and such a night”. The official Rolls would pick me up a block or so from my Hall of Residence and then return me home after the event, having dropped Aunty Doreen back home.
Beyond these memories, what truly defined Doreen was her deep commitment to community, her sense of duty, and her belief in public service.
She gave her time, her energy, and her heart to the people she served.
Doreen was also deeply proud of her Barbadian heritage. She could make a mean rum punch. 1 of sour, 2 of sweet, 3 of strong, 4 of weak!
Today, we give thanks for a life lived with purpose, dignity, and dedication.
Rest in Peace, Aunty Doreen.
Peter Burton
Eulogy by Lord Moylan
Daniel Moylan spoke from the heart with no notes so this is a précis of his eulogy.
He started by stating that Doreen was a formidable and terrifying person for young councillors.
He referred to his first meeting with Doreen and the equally formidable Elizabeth Russell. He went on to detail how Doreen taught him and other young councillors the practicalities of being a councillor.
Once he got to know Doreen better he discovered she had a heart of gold.
One of Doreen’s early roles was to chair the Libraries committee, where she got the nickname Madame Bibliothèque.
He mentioned like Peter, how when she was Mayor she would engage him as her escort for the evening events.
And to close he mentioned that he like Doreen was a heavy smoker. During that time it was allowable to smoke within the council chamber. The Borough was only able to ban smoking within the chamber following an Act of Parliament!
Daniel ended by recalling Doreen as a young woman set out to a new home in England on a great adventure and said that she was now embarking on a new adventure and heading to a new home.
Lord Moylan (précis)
Eulogy by Howard Jeffrey of The Pepperpot Club delivered in his absence by Julie Mills
Julie Mills is a Trinidadian and is past Mayor for the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (2011-2012).
Good afternoon friends family and colleagues of the Magnificent Honourable Alderman Miss Doreen Weatherhead.
On behalf of Pepperpot Club may I thank Melanie, Lyall and Peter for inviting the Pepperpot Club to make its own tribute to Doreen as she was fondly known.
It should be Howard Jeffrey the Pepperpot Club’s Chairman standing here but he and 35 Club members are heading off as we speak to Spanish climes on a longstanding trip where they will be lifting a glass of punch in honour of Doreen’s legacy and contribution especially to the elders of the Caribbean and African community in Kensington and Chelsea.
Doreen really was a bit of a legend… Formidable and indomitable she was possessed of a great sense of fair play and justice for all.
Her pledges to treat all without fear or favour were real to her. It shaped her personal as well as her professional life.
Though Alderman Miss Weatherhead would climb to special heights from modest Bajan beginnings. Doreen was not one for slumbering around in airs and graces while others suffered.
Rather… she was a woman of action. She was also a woman of compassion. She had grace but she had GRIT.
Like so many of the Windrush generation she and fellow West Indians who had answered the late Queen and her father’s call to come help broken Britain in the 1950s and 1960s.
She saw quickly both from her work in the health sector and her casework in the Borough that as in their working life so in their later life many would face loneliness, isolation, and cultural disconnection and so she with Pansy Jeffrey and other pioneers of the day set about the creation of a welcoming safe space where these elderly members would gather, share their stories, enjoy good hot food, and find companionship and seek help.
As a Trustee of the Pepperpot Centre, Doreen Weatherhead played a crucial role in securing support from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which was established in 1981.
She Recognised the importance of local authority backing. She initiated constructive dialogues with council and government representatives, advocating passionately for the needs of the Centre’s members.
Doreen meticulously prepared and supported funding applications and presented compelling cases at council meetings, highlighting the Centre’s impact on the wellbeing of elderly Caribbean and African residents.
Doreen’s perseverance resulted in the continuation of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea’s provision of financial assistance, practical resources, improved facilities local community programmes and a focus on the community contribution that today shape modern day post war Britain.
Her unwavering commitment ensured that the Centre’s voice was consistently heard at Council meetings, enabling the Pepperpot to remain a sustainable, welcoming haven for all its members.
As did so many Doreen brought with her a loyalty to King, Queen and country, unshakeable values, a deep sense of duty, hard work and true devotion to the needs of the less fortunate.
Recognising that the Centre’s work deserved wider acknowledgement, Doreen played a key role in extending the invitation that ultimately led to the visit Queen Elizabeth II in 2005.
History does not relate whether her mother’s famed guava cheese accompanied the invitation but The Queen did visit the centre, not once, but twice. Her visit’s paved the way for pretty much all the mayors of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea to attend the annual Christmas lunch.
For Doreen Weatherhead, the royal visit represented more than a ceremonial occasion. It was a way of ensuring that the stories and contributions of the Centre’s members were recognised at the highest level… And they were and still are as has been evidenced by the present Queen also visiting The Centre just after Covid.
As Pepperpot celebrates its 45th anniversary, we remember with gratitude the quiet but powerful contribution of Doreen Weatherhead. Her commitment, her kindness, and her belief in the importance of the Windrush generation and how they did build something lasting and meaningful.
Her legacy lives on in the continued work of the Pepper Pot Centre and in the lives of the many people who have found support, comfort, and friendship within its walls… and… a new generation now benefiting from the work of those pioneers.
For my own part I will also remember those great moments in Licensing when some seemingly silver tongued advocate would demand a licence to dawn without conditions. Doreen would simply fix her steely gaze and utter the immortal words: “A licence in the Royal Borough is a Privilege Sir. It is not a Right.”
That earned her the respect of officers residents and businesses throughout Kensington & Chelsea and surrounding Boroughs making our public realm a beacon of excellence.
So Doreen in these last moments of your time on earth we at Pepperpot bid your spirit… God speed… back to Barbados, Gods own country, to stroll along the Boardwalk in Christchurch and head for Accra beach… where Bajan blue waters shall lap at your toes… a rum punch in hand… steel band playing… as you watch the golden sun set and contemplate with satisfaction… a life well lived!
Goodbye Miss Doreen! God bless you! Thank you for what you helped Pepper Pot and its members to achieve.
Julie Mills on behalf of Howard Jeffrey of The Pepperpot Club
Tribute and Toast to Doreen by Warwick Lightfoot
Warwick Lightfoot spoke from the heart ex tempore. He has kindly provided us with a write-up of this vote of thanks and tribute to Doreen.
I now have the happy job of proposing a toast to Doreen in Barbados Rum Punch.
Doreen Weatherhead had great gumption. Doreen came to Britain in 1950. She arrived in Plymouth at Millbay dock and got off the boat with a big box trunk and a bicycle. It was an August summer day. The kind of August summer day that Plymouth, my home town where I still live, specialises in. It was grey, there was a slight drizzle of rain and it was cold. I still can hear the timbre of Doreen’s voice when she told me: “it was freezing, I just did not know what I had done”.
She lugged her trunk and bicycle across from the dock to the old Milbay Railway station, opposite the Duke of Cornwall Hotel, and got herself to London. There she trained at one of the great London teaching hospitals, St Georges. St George’s Hospital was then in its historic location on Hyde Park Corner. It was a magnificent purpose built neo-classical revival building, located on ground that had been given by the Duke of Westminster in the early 19th century. It was grand.
There Doreen trained as a radiographer. Radiography is an important ‘profession allied to medicine’. It involves rigorous professional training. This includes an education in basic physics. I say an education in basic physics choosing my words carefully. The necessary physics has to be understood and properly grasped. Simply passing an exam and obtaining a credential is insufficient. For a radiographer an understanding of physics is a practical necessity. It requires the acquisition of several difficult and awkward techniques that if fumbled can be dangerous. And in the 1950s it required a practitioner to have extensive clinical medical knowledge.
Doreen was a very well trained radiographer and highly skilled one. She ran radiography at a large private Harley Street Clinic for many years. As well as the radiography she ran the whole practice organisation, including its clinical records. Doreen was a model of organisation. Among the patients she dealt with were senior members of the Royal Household.
She had a good grasp of the diagnostic challenges in modern medicine. She was always an excellent source of advice when you or a member of your family needed guidance in approaching a medical matter. When things were worryingly close and personal and where it involved diagnostic nuance, Doreen was very helpful. I can still hear her saying, first get a complete set of blood tests, and start from there.
Doreen was a model of efficiency and organisation. She continued to work into her seventies and the office manager of two successive single practice solicitors. Individual solicitors working alone have a reputation for often neglecting their essential clerical work, such as record keeping, filing and sending out timely invoices. Doreen changed all that. In one of the offices no invoices had been sent out for over two years. She told me that she started sending them out. When they were unpaid after a month she would phone up and ask when payment would be made. She got results. Both of the solicitors’ practices have to be taken over by other firms when the principal could no longer work, one the solicitors, for example, died. On each occasion Doreen was asked to stay on and manage the winding up of the practice and in awkward circumstances earned the respect and gratitude of the firms involved in winding them up.
Doreen came to Kensington in the 1950s. She made her way on her own. She trained and became a professional woman, she worked and earned her own money. She did it all herself. There were no postal orders or no open cheque book from her parents. There was no partner or husband. It was all done by Doreen. She was elected as a Conservative Councillor in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in 1964.
In many respects Doreen’s election represented a change of year for the Conservative Association at that time. She was not a lady who lunched. She was unmarried but she was not living off a private income from her family. She worked full time. Doreen was representative of a wider change in Conservative Party towards a more modern and meritocratic party.
Doreen was also part of a change where women elected members took on decisive roles in the running of the Council of the Royal Borough in the administration and the politics of the authority. As her very close friend and political colleague Liz Russell expressed it. Doreen was part of the change where “the Old Trout in a Hat’, sitting on the Social Service Committee was over”.
Doreen was larger than life. She lived life to the full. She enjoyed all the pleasures of the table, she smoked and she drank. After one Council meeting we went off for supper to Geales Resteraunt and Wine Bar in Notting Hill. When I declined to have the cream on my apple pie – because I do not like milk and it was the liquid version of cream, similar to milk, rather than the clotted cream that I prefer – Doreen growled across the table : “why aren’t you having any cream on your pudding? You sit on the Social Services Committee, you are on the Visiting Panel and inspect the old age care homes. Do you want to end up like them, in one of those homes?”
Despite a colossal effort to thwart her own good health and constitution, Doreen lived to be 94, and did indeed, end up in one of those care homes.
She would be delighted by our presence here today and by the tributes at her funeral in the St Mary Abbots Church. She would have been touched by the presence of the Representative of the High Commissioner. And she would be very pleased by the presence of the Mayor here today and his generosity in allowing the Mayor’s Parlour in the Town Hall of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, to be used for this reception.
Doreen would have been very pleased by the presence here today of her executors and of Melanie. I know we would like to thank them for what they have done to support Doreen in the closing years of life; and for all the work of organisation that Melanie has put into organising today’s event.
And so: a Toast – to Doreen.
Warwick Lightfoot
A tribute to Doreen Weatherhead was published in The Harrison College / Queen’s College Alumni Associations Network magazine, The College Bell, April 2026, Issue 024 see pages 5 to page 7.
Doreen’s ashes are to be taken back to Barbados. It is hoped that they can be buried with her parents Major Cyril Weatherhead, Mrs Inez Weatherhead and her brother Harold in the Barbados Military cemetery.
This post was originally published on: 13th March 2026. It was re-published and updated on 21st April 2026 to coincide with Doreen Weatherhead’s funeral at St Mary Abbotts in Kensington – the Parish church for the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
