It was with much sadness that we learned of the passing of Emily ‘Bunny’ Hensby; the founding member of Oxhey Village Environment Group.
Bunny passed away peacefully on 28 October 2011 at Rivercourt Nursing Home in West Watford. She was 97 years-old.
Born in Paddington in 1914, Bunny married in 1935 and had two daughters. She was a professional dressmaker who trained in London and had 20 years’ experience in fashion in the West End.
Bunny was attracted to Oxhey village where her sister was living and, in 1957, she moved into a cottage in Grover Road. From there she ran her own dressmaking business before becoming a lecturer in retail dressmaking at the London College of Fashion, commuting into London every day until she retired in 1974.
As well as being a wife and mother, a businesswoman and a teacher, Bunny was a political activist. She was a councillor in London and a founding member of the SDP. She also campaigned for gender equality, opening up a dialogue with the Duke of Edinburgh for his award scheme to be accessible to girls as well as boys.
London’s loss was our gain when, in her retirement, Bunny set about motivating people to create a group that would protect Oxhey Village’s way of life and preserve its character, and OVEG was born.
The first two OVEG campaigns were to create a village green and a village fayre which, as we know, has continued ever since. Bunny was essentially a private person who commanded respect and had very strong views about how things should be done. She would summon influential people at key times and grill them about their views and aspirations and their feelings about OVEG. It was important to her that councillors worked with OVEG to achieve shared goals.
One of the successful campaigns was the saving of Attenborough’s Fields from becoming a golf course. Another was the threat posed by new cables for the west coast main line. Bunny campaigned constantly and would go door-to-door collecting signatures on petitions to oppose threats to Oxhey Village.
Like all groups, OVEG has had its ups and downs, but Bunny looked out for her ‘baby.’ Even when it had grown up she still felt responsible for its continuation and growth, and intervened on more than one occasion to ensure that it continued to thrive.
Bunny went to the Summer Fayre every year, in later years pushed in her wheelchair by her friend Frances Jaggard. She loved to see the children having fun and the community having a good day out.
Bunny had always been fond of animals, and was an active supporter of a number of animal charities. She had three cats of her own and loved to feed the birds. She enjoyed the countryside, and made many visits to her niece in Devon. Bunny’s Christian faith underpinned her passion for the community and the environment.
Bunny lived a very independent life until, in July 2006, after being hospitalised she became unable to look after herself and entered residential care at River Court nursing home, before suffering a series of strokes.
Hensby Mews, by Oxhey Green, was named after Bunny. At the naming ceremony she said: “People come here to live and don’t leave. The village is really a well-loved place”.
At Bunny’s memorial service, Mayor Dorothy Thornhill said: “Bunny’s legacy is OVEG. We owe it to her not only to continue, but to continue in the spirit in which it was formed. It is about creating community spirit by bringing people together to have fun, working constructively together to fight the things that threaten our way of life. But it is mostly about helping to create a place to live where every-one looks out for each other and cares about the totality of the place.”
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