Sheena Crawley, former editor of the Harrow Observer, dies aged 78

Former editor of the Harrow and Wembley Observer Sheena Crawley died aged 78 from pneumonia on Monday 28 October.

Sheena worked as an editor for the newspaper for 12 years until she retired in 2000.

Former colleague Tom Black, who was deputy editor of the Harrow Observer in the 1990s, said: “Sheena had many of the best qualities of an old-school editor. A strong instinct for a story and the determination to see it onto the page. She was also a popular ambassador for the paper in the community.

“Always fair and open in her dealings with staff, she was not without a fiery side and her presence in the newsroom was never in doubt. She nurtured many young reporters, who went onto forge careers beyond weekly newspapers.”

Sheena was born in Scotland and landed her first journalism job at the Glasgow Herald before working for the Glasgow-based Daily Record.

She then moved to South-Africa where she lived for 11 years. She wrote for Fairlady magazine and the Rhodesian Herald.

Upon moving back she became a features editor for Woman’s Own magazine and later worked for the Ealing Gazette. The last 12 years of her working life she spent at the Harrow and Wembley Gazette as editor.

Sheena did not sit idle after retirement. She got a degree in English literature and co-published a book of local writings from her local area of West Hampstead. She was also a keen poet.

Her funeral will be at Golders Green crematorium at 11am on Tuesday, 5 November.