Publican profile: The pick of the bunch

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http://www.thepublican.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=13193&d=11

Publican profile: The pick of the bunch

Published 28-Apr-2004

Publican Profile is the first in a series of features on the remarkable

people behind the bars of Britain¹s pubs, starting with Yvonne Cleminson,

licensee of the Cherry Tree in Surrey. By Tom Sandham.

.... Thanks to an understanding bank manager in the early days, and no small

amount of hard work, she has transformed the pub into the focal point of its

community in Rowledge, Surrey.

Then five years ago she lost one of her daughters to the rare but fatal

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Emma was only 33 when she died of a brain

haemorrhage bought on by the incurable disease that weakens muscles and bone

joints and wastes the skin. The family was unaware she had the disease and

it killed her without warning, leaving Yvonne¹s grandson Jay without his

mother.

When some may have faltered under the strain of a tragic loss, Yvonne

battled on. Even when she was given the news that Jay had inherited the

disease she would not be stopped and the ordeal inspired her to work

tirelessly for charity, raising money which has so far totalled an amazing

£45,000.

And as if she didn¹t have enough on her plate this licensee extraordinaire

even finds time to write. She is now the proud author of an incredible 273

poems, which are soon to be published.

Yvonne is undoubtedly an inspiration and her pub company, Greene King Pub

Partners, last week presented her with a lifetime achievement award. ³I keep

the trophy behind the bar, it was brilliant to receive it,² says Yvonne.

³Greene King has been good to me and has always been generous with

contributions when I¹m involved in fundraising activities. I wasn¹t

expecting it at all but it¹s certainly nice after all the years I¹ve spent

in the trade.² ... ³It wasn¹t easy to carry on alone bringing up three

children,² she says. ³But I had the support of the bank when things were

tight and built trade by giving the pub and gardens a refurbishment and

creating more of a farmhouse atmosphere with a cheery feeling.²

.... But all the changes and challenges in the trade pale into

insignificance when compared with the tragedy Yvonne faced when she lost her

daughter. She had been involved in charity events before but Emma¹s death

inspired Yvonne to raise funds for the incurable disease which killed her

daughter and which her grandson has inherited. She put up a ³Charity Tree²

mural on the wall of her pub which people can still sponsor and added a

³Friendship Tree² to the inside of the pub that people from all over the

world have left written messages on.

³We¹ve held charity football and golf matches, we¹ve even had ex-Tottenham

Hotspur players Chivers and Pat Jennings getting involved,² Yvonne

says. ³It takes a lot of organising but I¹ve always had help from the

community because they like to give something back to the pub, it¹s very

important to them. And I don¹t do it for the recognition of something like

the Greene King award, I do it so that people like my grandson can have a

better life.²

.... Having received all the plaudits all that is left for Yvonne to do when

she retires in two years time is to write her book. ³When I said that I

didn¹t have time to write, a friend told me just to grab every spare minute

to get something down,² she says. ³Greene King has said it will publish a

book of some of my poems to mark my 25 years and when that¹s done I¹ll write

my book. With all the time I¹ve had in the trade I¹m sure I¹ll have plenty

to say.² ...

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