Jayne Hewson 1966-2023

How can it be that only days on from chatting with Jayne during her road to recovery from essential surgery that I find myself having to share the deeply saddening news to all our followers that she passed away less than a week ago. She had been expecting to come home, yet it was not to be.

So many of you who follow us will know Jayne. How could you not? Someone who was not just a member of the Petuaria Players but arguably was the Petuaria Players – a larger than life presence and, other than Richard, she was our longest serving active member having joined the group in 1986 and has been involved in an amazing 94 plays as cast member, working hard backstage or, more recently as a popular Producer.

She had a strength in creating characters, especially those wonderful comic roles we will cherish. And when she turned her stage experience skills to directing she discovered her ability to motivate us as actors, to raise confidence, push us outside of our comfort zones and realise our potentials. Nobody left a rehearsal or a play without a smile on their face.

Always present at rehearsals, even when she was not in a production, Jayne never missed an opportunity to be there – the drama group was a major part of her life, an area she was never prepared to give up, a constant. Jayne has many circles of friends and the members of the Petuaria Players were one of those circles and in each one she found loyal friends that loved her bubbling outward personality, her laughter, her fun and, for many, her support and care in times of need.

The shock has been devastating for us as it is for all her friends and we send our deepest condolences to her family and friends beyond our circle.

This week we aim to resume our rehearsals with the knowledge that Jayne will no longer be part of our productions – but we can take heart from a wealth of wonderful memories and laughter. At any social gathering it was Jayne who would always start the anecdotes; hilarious, teasing, embarrassing, fun, re-living again those many play disasters and faux-pas, making us all laugh. And we know that we will be re-telling them again and again and our memories will be happy ones.

We will share some of our lovely memories and photos with you in the next post.

The family have announced : “We will be celebrating her life with a service at Haltemprice Crematorium on Friday, April 14 at 2.30pm” and that as Jayne brought much joy and colour to all of us they ask that everyone attending wears something colourful for the ceremony rather than black.