Tessa Short – July 1935 – March 2023
I am sure that many of you will have met Tessa…she was one of Titchfield Village’s colourful characters who loved pink and purple and would often be seen dressed in those colours and at one time she drove a red & black smart car with a purple daisy on the door, latterly it was her mobility chariot through the village.
On a Friday morning Tessa would be at the Country Market buying local produce and catching up with friends and on the way home she would pop into Daisy Bs for a black coffee.
Tessa strongly believed in being part of the community and was involved in both the Village and the wider area serving as a local Councillor and Major for Fareham.
Tessa had many interests – she was well travelled with a love of art, dance, music and theatre she enjoyed annual visits to ‘Hampshire Open Studios’ and was a member of various choirs throughout her life.
She loved her garden and grew many plants and vegetables. As I said she loved the village and would always support local events, she was instrumental in creating ‘Titchfield through the Ages Millennium Tapestries’ that hang in the Parish Rooms/Village Hall.
With a team of friends Tessa grew the tradition of putting a lighted ‘Christmas Tree’ on houses in the Village. Titchfield Ablaze is now a big part of the Xmas celebrations and by using the brackets for the Christmas Trees she orchestrated the tradition of the ‘flags’ in West St which were initially put up for Titchfield Carnival but quickly grew to include weddings and special celebrations, again this has expanded and ‘flags’ are now seen throughout the village.
Tessa was involved with various organisations throughout her life, she was governor of Park School, Neville Lovett Community School, Chair of governors at Ranvilles Junior School and Chairman (Lifetime) of Trustees at the YOU Trust.
Tessa always had a great deal of empathy and sympathy for those that had fallen on hard times and gave a great deal of her time to these organisations.
Tessa was married to Ron for 52 years and had two so