Elaine Heyfron

ANYONE who has walked down Queen’s Crescent, Kentish Town or Finchley Road will have had their head turned by the booming voice of Elaine Heyfron.

Coming from a long line of costermongers, greengrocers and florists, she was familiar with market life from a young age and went on to run three popular flower stalls in Camden for around 30 years. Tributes have poured in this after her sudden death on a family holiday in Spain.

She was just 52. Lainey, as she was affectionately called, was fondly remembered this week for her bubbly personality and dazzling blue eyes and for giving people in need of a second chance a job at her stalls.

One of five sisters, she was the backbone of an extended family, who loved a good party.

She was for many “always a shoulder to cry on” but also known for her snappy catchphrases, like “I’ve got no tissues for your issues”. “Here for a good time, not for a long time” was another of her well-known sayings.

Her family said this week that she was a “proud mum” to Tasha – who runs the stall in Kentish Town – Harry and Lainie and that her partner Peter Boon was her soulmate.

“Together they created the life she had always dreamed of” and “a home that was open, warm and welcoming to all”, they said.

“She carried everyone’s worries and lifted spirits with her humour. Fiercely loyal and hilariously funny, Elaine would drop anything to be there for the people she loved. Her love knew no limits, our hearts are broken.”

Born in 1973 to parents Peter and Rita Heyfron, she grew up in Queen’s Crescent with her four sisters Tracy, Linda and Julie and later her youngest sister Lisa.

Elaine went to Carlton Primary School where she was selected to sing at the Town Hall for the school’s centenary celebrations.

“She truly had the voice of an angel,” her sisters said. “With her bubbly personality, long blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes, Elaine had a remarkable gift for making everyone she met feel special,” her sisters said.

Ms Heyfron was a proud auntie to sixteen of her sisters’ children and became a great-auntie to twenty-three great nieces and nephews, being chosen as godmother many times. Elaine loved to travel. She visited Las Vegas, Australia and much of Europe, and in recent years discovered a love of cruises.

She was a parishioner at St Dominic’s Church and her funeral is expected to be held there in what is expected to be one of the biggest send-offs in Queen’s Crescent for many years.

The flower stall in Finchley Road

Her cousin, former Mayor of Camden Lulu Mitchell, said this week that she would never have been elected back in 2006 without Elaine’s support.

“I remember on polling day so many people was coming through saying they were voting for me because she was my cousin,” she said. “She didn’t want to go into politics, she used to say ‘I’ve got enough on my plate’. But she was with me then, she was always with me. Lulu Bella, she called me. She always used to say ‘I’m here for a good time, not a long time’. She loved to party, always the belle of the ball. To be honest, she wore me out with all that energy. She was also such a pisstaker too.”

Ms Mitchell said she had last year gone to Spain for two weeks and spent time with her sister out there.

“She said she had just a few weeks ago sent her a baby scan, so happy that she was becoming a grandmother,” Ms Mitchell said. “She absolutely loved her dog, Teddy. One thing she did a lot was she actually took people on who were addicts – and got them clean.

“Homeless people too, she would see them out there on the street and do something about it. She thought everyone deserved a second chance. She borrowed so many people money over the years. And she had everyone’s back and stuck up for the underdogs.

“She was known by everybody in the Crescent, and I think this is going to be one of the biggest funerals we’ve ever seen in Gospel Oak. We’ve hired open-back lorries to carry the flowers behind the hearse.”

Her cousin Michelle said: “There are not enough words to describe how special you were to me and so many people. Your home and your heart were open to anyone and everyone. You truly became everyone’s Elaine in the end. You will be missed so much by all who had the privilege to call you theirs.”

Details of Ms Heyfron’s funeral will be published next week.