Obituary: Sue Heyworth gave huge support to husband who founded Cotswold Wildlife Park

Sue, widow of the park’s founder John Heyworth, died peacefully at home on December 17 following a long battle with Alzheimer’s. She was 90.

Sue was born in Calcutta on January 22, 1931 to John and Betty Burder.

She was brought up in Calcutta and they also had a home in a hill station in the Himalayas called Kalimpong, where the family spent time during the hot weather.

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Sue always remembered with great affection her childhood stays in Kalimpong, where they lived on a ridge from which you could see Mount Kanchenjunga rising in the distance, the third tallest mountain in the world.

Her father, by that time Sir John, and his wife Betty left India in 1948 and retired to Manor Farm in Swinbrook, from where Sue met John Heyworth at a local party, shortly after he had been de-mobbed from the army in 1948.

They were married in 1950, when Sue was aged 19 and John aged 24, and remained together until John’s death 62 years later.

They set up home in what had been the estate house and had four children over the next 11 years, adding on to the house as the family got bigger.

What is now the wildlife park near Burford was rented out from 1949 to 1969, when it came back into the family’s control and John Heyworth decided to start Cotswold Wildlife Park.

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A former farmer, Mr Heyworth set up the wildlife park on his family’s 3,000-acre family estate in 1970, turning it into a major tourist attraction and breeding centre for endangered species.

Sue was always a huge support in this endeavour, although she used to say that ever since a cat once urinated on her leg when she was a child sitting at the dining table at her parents’ house in India, she had never really liked animals.

She had a very good eye for gardens, about which she was very knowledgeable, and strong views about the atmosphere and aesthetics of the wildlife park.

Always a great believer in the family, she felt strongly that the wildlife park should be run by a family for other families.

Sue was an instrumental influence in creating the park as it is today, especially in her support for John and their son Reggie, who is now park manager.

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Her latter years were dominated by her selfless care for John as his Parkinson’s disease progressively blighted his declining years.

John died in 2012 aged 87 and keepers and administrative staff, including Mr Heyworth’s son Reggie, joined a memorial service to celebrate his life and work.

After John’s death, Sue was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, which she faced with characteristic humour and stoicism.

The family are particularly grateful to Sue’s wonderful carers over the last few years, who have done so much to make sure that she was able to get the most out of life, almost to the end.

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On his mother’s lasting legacy, Reggie said: “I think she and my father felt very strongly that the park should be a really beautiful place and that it should not be anywhere that becomes too expensive or commercialised.

“It should always be about inclusivity.

“It also has a great following in the local area and I think that’s what meant a lot to my parents, that over the years it has stayed such a strong part of the Cotswolds and Oxfordshire identity.”

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