Obituary
Heather was born in Pickering, North Yorkshire in April 1955 to Joe and Diana Metcalfe.. The growing family soon moved the small colliery village of Plashetts, Northumberland where Joe was employed as a forester. That village is no longer, having lain at the bottom of a valley, it was flooded in the 1960’s when the enormous Kielder reservoir was created.
Heather sadly lost her mother when she was 4 years old, a devastating event for her and her three siblings, Josephine, Iain and Pamela. Diana was only 38 yrs old at the time. Dad Joe unexpectedly found he had to support his four children by himself. This made the family bond between them all extremely strong and long lasting.
Heather was a bright child, who loved reading, and, unusually for a country village school pupil, she passed her eleven plus exam. This success enabled her to break out of the usual circle and attend the local grammar school at Hexham, where she excelled. She was the first member of her family ever to go to university. A proud achievement.
At Loughborough she obtained her bachelors degree in English, and has enjoyed a lifetime of reading ever after. She is proud to have read all the so-called ‘classic’ books. Wherever she has lived there have always been shelves and shelves of books lining the walls. Heather would always carry a paperback in her bag, just in case!
After University Heather began working for a law firm in London but found the work boring, and so soon changed to work as Promotions Manager in the BMG record Group. Here she found her forte, in the music business, rubbing shoulders with famous and wannabe famous personalities. She stayed in the rock/pop business for many years as a round peg in a round hole. Heather had many happy memories from this job and spoke of it with great fondness.
Her lovely father Joe, passed away in 1987, aged 69 yrs. Then in 1995 , Lesley Webb, an old friend of her mothers and a lifelong supportive mentor and friend to Heather, left us. These were particularly sad events for Heather.
Heather retired from her busy London role and opted for a quieter life, away from the stress and bustle of big business in the city and moved back to her native county of Northumberland. Here she took up a part-time role at her local Sue Ryder Charity Shop in Ashington, and as she always did, with her soft and gentle personality, made good friends there.
Anyone who knew Heather knows that among her top priorities in life was animal welfare. She was never very far from a cat or a dog, whether it be one of her many pets over the years or one she had befriended in the street, here or abroad. As a youngster, she had pet fox she named Dodd, a deserted cub found by her Dad in the forest who he rescued and brought home.
Any spare money Heather had, would go to her favourite animal charities and she would always encourage others to do the same, giving presents of sponsored donkeys and virtual bales of hay!
Heather became a vegetarian at a young age, and never wavered from that decision. Animal cruelty was the only subject that got her really angry. She was such a thoughtful and kind person, generous to a fault, warm hearted and non-confrontational. We shall all miss her greatly.
Please do add to the photograph and memory wall below. It would mean a great deal to us to hear stories and see photographs from Heathers life over the years.
In honour of Heathers memory and her love for all animals, we invite you to contribute to one of her favourite charities, Cats Protection. There is a Just Giving page set up in her honour if you wish to contribute this way
https://www.justgiving.com/page/heathermetcalfe1955
Please do not feel obliged to do so. All Heather would ask is that you honour her gentle spirit by taking the time to help an animal in need, to enjoy your favourite book and to love the animals in your care even more.
Many Thanks,
Metcalfe Family.
Gallery
Memory wall
She was looking after a fella from the show "Neighbours", Mark Stevens, who was rehearsing in the studio next to me.
We chatted about the importance of Mars bars and the like.
For the next ten years we worked on various projects together.
She taught me the true meaning of friendship, and in the ruthless business that is music that is rare. She was there for me through the horrors and heartache, as well as the highs and hilarity.
Our last projects were the final S Club 7 tour and a stint with an amazing group called "A State Of Grace", featuring Shovel from the group M-People.
She taught me to appreciate Everyone that we worked with. From the cleaner through to the MD.
Without Heather, the 90's and 00's would be void of "POP" music, and 5ive, Westlife, Take That, M-People, Rick Astley, Kylie, S Club 7, the list goes on & on.
She is a Legend to many, but my buddy and I'll miss not being able to speak to her again.
Love you, H!
Turn the music to 11 up there, and say "Hi" to George for me. D
Heather came to visit us all a few times in San Francisco and we created lots of good memories.
We shared our great love of kitties too
I’m glad she came to visit us a few years ago in Seaford. Even though we hadn’t seen her for awhile, we just picked up as though no time had passed. I’m glad she was able to find peace and happiness ‘up North’
Thank you Heather for all the good memories. Your spirit will live on in our hearts and in our love of our furry friends
Heath was working at the record company/artiste Mgt and I was in BBC Radio - at “Newsbeat”. We were quite the gals around town and had great fun at many many gigs/events over the years.
I was a big fan of Bryan Adams, and his guitar player Keith Scott ( 😊who you will see in some of the photos I will attach). Heather gamely drove me all around the country to see him. Even though she wasn’t a big fan of the music. But we had such a laugh on those drives.
We did other road trips too for some of the artists of “New Country” as it was known, in particular for The Long Ryders, The Bodeans (ok perhaps not new country), James House, Randy Travis and Dwight Yoakum.
We had the good fortune to see Lyle Lovett (photos attached) and Steve Earle at their very first shows, something they never forgot as friendships were forged over the years, especially for Heather with Steve Earle. I’m so happy to know that it was only just last year that they spent a bunch of time together and Heath had a super time. And actually the last time I saw Heath was when she came down to Sussex to visit me and for us to see Steve at the Brighton Dome. (photos attached)A perfect night out for us.
I moved to San Francisco in 1990 and Heather came out to visit on a number of occasions - often as part of a work thing she was doing with whichever band she was assigned to.
We went to LA together and visited Dave Stewart’s house and saw the studio where the Travelling Wilburys recorded.
On visits back to the UK I’d come and stay with Heather in West Hampstead and spend time with her and her darling cats, Molly and Harley 😊
Ah yes - another shared appreciation/devotion, to our four-legged friends.
Even though Heather and I lived far apart for many years we always kept in touch and as soon as the phone conversation began, we were right back in there, like no time had passed.
I know that she was so happy and settled in the life she made when she returned to the north of England. And that gives me great solace.
Of course it is a great shock to hear that Heather is no longer here with us, we were just due for a call, but I know 100% she’s keeping good eye on us all, with that wry smile of hers.
“Take care of you” my darling friend. Love Cazx
The following story I have told on many occasions over the last 36 years and is one of my " regulars". But I should say here that what I eventually experienced would never have come about but for Heather's contribution, so here goes.
At some point in the spring or early of 1988, Heather and I planned to and see The Beat Farmers play at The Mean Fiddler in Harlesden NW London, one of our regular venues in those days. I dropped by her flat to give her a ride over and she mentioned that we would be meeting up with Matt, a US Marine who was in town doing some forward planning for President Reagan's upcoming visit to London. She also hinted that Matt might well be keener on her than she was on him.
We got to the club and I was introduced to Matt who seemed to be a nice guy. The gig was as good as we had anticipated but part way through Heathet found me and said she was about to leave as she had just found the atmosphere with Matt in the club too much to deal with. She was very concerned that I get him back safely to his hotel after the show and I said that I would do so.
We drove back into a pretty deserted central London to the then US Embassy in Grosvenor Square. Matt was very appreciative of the ride and said to me " If you are ever in DC, let me know and I'll show you round The White House!". I said Ok and thought little about it.
BUT later on that summer my wife Eve ( a Philadelphia native) and I were on the East Coast of the US so I rang Matt up. He got me to provide our Social Security numbers and on a Friday night in August we met up at the pre-arranged rendezvous near the White House.
We went inside the building. Now of course this was long before 9/11 so what we experienced that evening can never be replicated for anyone else, but we didn't know that then.
We went through what felt like a living room. I remember seeing the flags representing recent " campaigns" like Grenada and Panama over in a corner. There were a number of photos of President Reagan with Margaret Thatcher. They clearly got on well personally. We went downstairs to the Press Room famous for the daily White House briefings. It was pretty grungy looking ( after all it was the end of a working week!). We have got a photo of Eve and I standing at the Press Secretary's lectern. I wanted to make a statement and from my world of work supporting people with learning disabilities in their fight to achieve self advocacy had found a T Shirt that read " Build Ramps not Missiles for an Accessible Future". We looked into the Oval Office from its door frame. It was clear from the other visitors that all the young Marines had invited their friends and families along too. Not to be repeated nowadays so obviously a once in a lifetime opportunity. And essentially, all down to Heather. Thank you so much.
To all of your friends and family, I am so sorry for your loss.
John Hersov.
