Community’s fond farewell to beloved Brenda, 100
West Farleigh has lost one of its oldest and most loved residents.
Brenda Day passed away on Sunday, April 2, aged 100.
Born Brenda Body into a farming family in Biddenden, she was educated at Goudhurst Ladies College and became a nanny.
During the Second World War, she served with the WAAF and became a plotter in the operations room at RAF Fighter Command in Stanmore.
She famously plotted the course of the plane taken by Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy, when he arrived in Scotland in a secret mission to negotiate peace with Britain.
In 1942, Mrs Day married Roland Day, who was from another big Kent farming family, the son of John Day from Tutsham Hall, West Farleigh.
The couple both loved riding to hounds and playing tennis.
After the war they farmed at Elphicks Farm in Hunton, for 50 years with hops, top fruit and livestock.
The couple had three children: Robert, Simon and Diana.
In later years, Mrs Day took up bowls and played for Kent in both indoor and outdoor championships.
The couple retired to Charlton Lane in West Farleigh 20 years ago.
Mr Day died in 2011, but with the help of her neighbours and children, Mrs Day continued to live independently until she was admitted to hospital just a few days before her death.
She developed a chest infection which turned into pneumonia.
More than 100 people attended a thanksgiving service for her life at her cremation at Vinters Crematorium on Monday last week.