Woman dies after heart attack at restaurant

A WOMAN from Henley has died after suffering a heart attack at her farewell party.

Sylvia Gregory, 88, who lived at the Royal Apartments in Station Road, was having lunch with friends at the Bistro at the Boathouse opposite on Thursday last week when the incident happened.

She was due to leave Henley to go and live with her daughter in Malvern.

When she fell ill, a member of staff called the emergency services and the manager, Andrew Keen, ran to get a defibrillator.

Five police cars, two ambulances and an ambulance car arrived at the scene.

Mrs Gregory was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading and admitted to intensive care. She was put on life support but passed away on Saturday after failing to regain consciousness.

Her younger son Adrian, 62, who lives in Hammersmith, said: “The doctor told us she wasn’t going to recover and we made the very difficult decision to let her go.

“The doctors assured us that she felt no pain — it was immediate.

“It was fitting in many ways that her days ended in Henley. It’s where she brought up her kids and where she had so many happy memories and she was having a celebration in her favourite restaurant when it happened.

“We are now in the process of arranging the funeral. We hope it will be in Henley and it looks like it may take place in January.”

Mr Gregory and his siblings, Colin, 64, and Alison Matthews, 60, grew up in Henley with their mother and father David, who worked in procurement for Mars.

The family lived first in Damer Gardens, then Fair Mile and finally Lambridge Wood Road and the children went to Henley Grammar School.

Mr Gregory said: “We were very happy in the town. When my sister and I left, my parents retired to Torquay but my mum came back to Henley about 10 years ago when my dad died.

“She was living in the flats opposite the Bistro and she became a regular at the restaurant. She always loved it. It’s a fantastic restaurant.”

Mr Gregory thanked the restaurant staff for trying to help his mother.

“They were fantastic and really helpful,” he said. “Fortunately, there was a nurse on another table who kept her alive. The emergency services were all brilliant too.

“She was in a wheelchair and she was frail. She was going to move in with my sister and was having a goodbye party with friends at the restaurant.

“It was going swimmingly and they were into their second bottle of Prosecco when she swallowed something and suddenly had a heart attack.”

Shaun Dickens, who owns the restaurant, said: “She was a fabulous lady. She was elderly and frail but had been a regular with us since day one.

“She loved our restaurant and she always asked about our son. We loved having her.”

He praised his staff for their response to the incident, saying: “The manager ran to get the defibrillator and the waiters and even the guests were amazing.

“It was at the weekend that I got a call from her family to say that, sadly, she hadn’t made it.”