It is with immense sadness that Godalming Town Council announce the passing of Mrs Zadie Caudle, Honorary Freewomen of Godalming, aged 90 years, in the early hours of 28th February 2024 at her beloved home.
Zadie resided in Godalming for many, many years, and along with her late husband Peter, played an active part in the life of Godalming. Although the town has gone through many changes, it has retained its identity and inherent history to which Peter and Zadie contributed in many different ways. Peter and Zadie, throughout their lives, worked together to preserve the historic heart of the town, not only by ensuring that Church Street’s historic buildings were maintained to the highest standard, but also by nurturing new and small independent businesses.
As a leading opponent to the demolition of significant parts of Church Street for the construction of a relief road in the 1970’s, which led to the creation of the original Town Centre Conservation Area, Zadie continued to work for the protection of the town’s historic character. Although a private person, who did not seek the limelight, Zadie had a deep love of Godalming and its people, which through her philanthropic ethos had been of inestimable benefit to local organisations and community groups over the years and despite the loss of her life-long partner; Zadie unstintingly carried on and built upon this long commitment to ‘their’ town where they enjoyed their life together.
As part of her commitment to the town, Zadie created The Peter Caudle Memorial Trust, which supported many town initiatives that have and will continue to provide benefit to the community for many years to come. These initiatives included the reinstatement of the historical Boarden Bridge. Without Zadie’s support it is unlikely the bridge would have ever been restored for public use. Zadie also supported the dedication of the ‘New’ ‘Godalming War Memorial, which for the first time commemorated all those from the town who died in 20th century conflicts. There were many other projects that Zadie generously supported including the creation of an outside learning space at The Burys Scout HQ and the internal refurbishment of the town’s iconic Pepperpot so it could be used as a learning centre for Godalming Museum’s work with the children of the town.
Zadie’s commitment to the town was not just preserving its past, but also providing for its future. This she achieved through improvements to the facilities at Broadwater Park Community Centre and works needed to convert it to become the Broadwater Youth Centre. She also gave generously to support the Godalming Community Store and enjoyed the opening night of the Wilfrid Noyce Centre that she had helped to fit out with state-of-the art kitchen facilities and tiered seating in the new ‘Caudle Hall’
Zadie’s love of the town, in which she met and married her husband, shone out in every conversation she had, and, by her actions, she kept Peter’s memory alive with such good grace. Zadie Caudle more than demonstrated, through her actions, her outstanding commitment to the wellbeing of the town and its residents, and without doubt, made an exceptional personal contribution to the promotion, achievement, and delivery of community services.
On behalf of the Godalming Town Council, Mayor of Godalming Cllr Adam Duce said “It is with great sadness to hear of the passing of our Freewoman of Godalming, Zadie Caudle. What is so evident to see from all her work for the town is the community spirit that she embodied with her husband, Peter. The conviction to lead by example and invest in the infrastructure of the town to preserve its history but also anticipate its future needs is one that inspires me as the mayor and a local councillor”.
Postscript:
When I was Leader of Godalming Town Council, we decided to rebuild (and later extend) the Wilfrid Noyce Centre. With the original work completed, we did not have enough money remaining to immediately pay for the tiered seating in the main hall, amongst other things. At a council meeting where this was discussed, I made an off-the-cuff comment to the press in the gallery asking whether there was a generous benefactor out there who would be willing to help us out by providing the money for what was needed. This comment was duly reported by the Surrey Advertiser the following week and immediately after reading the article in the paper, Zadie Caudle contacted the Town Clerk with an offer to provide the necessary funds, which she did – and was in fact the start of many other acts of generosity noted above. She was a wonderful supporter of the council and our town and I thank her for everything she did. She was a true champion of her local community and will be much missed.
Stefan Reynolds, Godalming Town Councillor 2007-2019 (Leader of the Council 2014-2019)
