FORMER model Pat Wood who lived in Liphook since 1978 has passed away aged 94.

Following a divorce from her first husband Leonard Berney in 1965, Pat married Ken Wood, founder of the Kenwood food mixer company.

The company later opened a factory at Havant, employing people from a wide area.

In 1968, Pat and Ken moved to West Wittering near Chichester, and then Itchenor in 1973.

In 1978, they moved to Liphook and Ken began converting his home, Old Thorns, into a golf club with the help of former golf pro Peter Alliss, by then the voice of golf on radio and TV.

Old Thorns Hotel and Resort went on to become an extremely successful business venture.

Pat and Ken remained in Liphook for the rest of their lives. Ken passed away in 1997, aged 81 and, in 2014, Pat lost her middle son Nick, aged 59.

After moving into a care home for the last 13 months of her life, Pat passed away peacefully on January 12, 2022.

She leaves two sons, three grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, three stepchildren, nine step grandchildren, a step great-grandchild and many friends who all adored her.

Her youngest son John said: “My dearest mum – a real character, loved by all, always glamorous, and the kindest, warmest and most generous person you could ever wish to meet.

“What a fantastic life she led and what a wonderful mother she was to me!

“I love her dearly and will always miss her warm heart, her smile, her kindness, her love, and most of all, her sense of fun.”

Pat was born to Lily and Herbert Purser on December 7, 1927, in Camberwell, London.

When the Second World War broke out, her father, who fought in the First World War, was one of the first to sign up to the Home Guard, while Pat was evacuated to Fittleworth near Chichester.

Of her return to Camberwell a year or so later, Pat remembered hiding under the kitchen table when the bombs, particularly Hitler’s V-1 flying bombs, were dropping on London during the Blitz.

Her first job was as a switchboard operator for Associated Press in Fleet Street.

But after winning Lambeth’s Merchant Navy Beauty Contest in 1946 when she was only 18, she turned to modelling.

Pat modelled for top designer Sir Norman Hartnell, the royal dressmaker for Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, and Queen Elizabeth II.

She also modelled for many other designers and clothes manufacturers such as Kayser Bondor Stockings.

Pat would often be asked out by successful businessmen and members of the aristocracy who would offer to drop her home in their chauffeur-driven car.

But she would ask to be taken to Eaton Square, or similar, rather than reveal that she lived in a council flat in Camberwell.

She would then walk home!

In 1951, she married Leonard Berney, general manager of Berkertex, the UK’s largest clothing manufacturer at the time, based in Plymouth. Leonard also played a significant role in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

The couple lived in a luxury apartment over the factory in Plymouth where they raised three sons, Steve, Nick and John.

In 1960, Leonard’s work took him to London, and the family moved to New Malden, Surrey.

A modelling friend of Pat was Gina Egan who married Jagaddipendra Narayan, the Maharaja of Cooch Behar (known as ‘Bhaiya’ to his friends).

In 1960, Pat asked the royal couple to be the godparents to their youngest son, John.