POPULAR former pub landlady Pauline Stacey has died at 61 following a short illness.

The mother-of-two and grandmother-of-five, who lived in Didcot, was the former landlady of The Plough in Wallingford and the Horse and Harrow in West Hagbourne, near Didcot.

Pauline Joyce Stacey nee Welsh – known as Po – was born on September 28, 1951 in Peterborough.

She began her working career at Chartpak in Didcot, where she worked on a factory line.

Mrs Stacey’s previous employment included working as a sales assistant in Woolworths in Oxford, and at the distributors Bookpoint in Didcot.

She worked at Alpha-Numeric, based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, as a supervisor on the factory line and packed envelopes for about 10 years.

Her first marriage was to Larry Hill in 1970 and they had two children. The couple divorced in 1988.

She then did cleaning jobs before becoming landlady of The Plough in the early 90s.

Mrs Stacey went on to be landlady at the Horse and Harrow in West Hagbourne with second husband Alex Stacey, now 64, from 1997.

The couple married on December 22 in 1999 at Didcot Register Office.

The pub staged a regular pensioners’ lunch at Christmas organised by Pauline Mulford and funded largely by members of the North Berks Motorcycle Club.

The couple retired last year and moved from the pub to Didcot.

Mrs Stacey was diagnosed with lung cancer at the beginning of August and died aged 61 on Monday, September 2.

Her husband Alex said: “She was very fiery but she always told the truth.” He said she enjoyed being a pub landlady and added: “Towards the end we were getting tired and that is why we decided to come out.

“But there were lots of good times.”

Her funeral service will be held at St Peter’s Church, Didcot, tomorrow at 11am.

Family flowers only are requested, but donations are invited to Marie Curie Cancer Care via M&J Didcock Independent Funeral Service, Park Road, Didcot.