1973-2023
Margaret and Chick Yuill have sponsored a panel in the ceramic artwork Joy comes in the morning to honour the life of their daughter Catriona. They share their tribute below.
There are two things you need to know about Catriona to understand why she inspired such love and devotion in those who were fortunate enough to know her. The first is that from being a toddler, it became increasingly clear that she loved to act and perform. The first indication that the thespian’s life would be the life for her came when she appeared on stage as a four-year-old holding a fleecy lamb in a Christmas nativity play. As someone was later to remark: ‘Her performance was such that critics in the audience were uncertain as to whether her parents should put their daughter on the stage or direct her towards a vocation in sheep farming!’ However, the role of Mary Magdalene in a church production in her teenage years confirmed for her that a career in acting rather than agriculture would be the direction her life would take.
And the second thing is that from childhood and throughout the rest of her life she was known to family and close friends as Shiney. The name arose from her younger sibling Jeni’s infant attempts to pronounce her big sister’s name. Cheeny gradually evolved into Shiney and the name stuck because it perfectly captured her bright, attractive and vivacious personality. Catriona had a rare and wonderful gift that enabled her to offer friendship generously and to inspire it in others in return. It’s something of a cliché to say of some individuals that they ‘light up a room’. In her case, she lit up the lives of those around her with deep and lasting relationships that enriched both her life and theirs.
Catriona trained at The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) before embarking on an acting career that spanned more than twenty years. Her theatre credits included Anna Karenina (Bolton Octagon), Dancing at Lughnasa (Broadway Theatre Catford) Spring Awakening (Battersea Arts Centre), and national tours with The Three Musketeers and Pride and Prejudice. Her television appearances included Family Affairs (Channel 5), Emmerdale Farm (ITV), Our Mutual Friend, The Genius of Mozart and Casualty, all on BBC. Film credits included Lord of Misrule, Before, After and After That and Chicken/Egg. In addition, she featured in a variety of television commercials. Her acting abilities also led to work in role plays and training videos for a number of major companies as well as the British Army and the National Health Service.
If her acting career can be summed up in a paragraph, the account of Catriona’s courage in the face of adversity and the impact on those who encountered her could fill many pages. When her marriage broke down after 20 years, she had to travel through a dark valley of depression. But it was a place from which she emerged more truly herself – in fact, more Shiney! – than ever before and more equipped and determined than ever to live well and to be of help to others.
Just when she had climbed back into the sunlit uplands of happy everyday life, however, an unexpected twist in the road awaited her in the form of a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Major surgery followed and initially she was given the all-clear and an assurance that the cancer was unlikely to recur. However, the cancer did return and this time the diagnosis was terminal. Preparing to die was a role that Catriona had never expected to play so relatively early in her life. But it was one she took on with a dignity that was beautiful to behold, with a determination to live every day to the full, with a desire to prepare her family and friends for a future without her, and with a sense of humour that filled her last days with more laughter than tears. In doing so, she left an example and a legacy that her family and friends will always treasure. The photograph of her joy at the sight of a rainbow, taken on a walk the evening before she went into hospital for the last time and just a month before she died, captures the essence of the spirit she showed in those last days.
Catriona will always be missed by everyone who knew her and loved her. We are sad that we lost her too early, but glad beyond words that we had her in our lives. And we hold on to the hope of our Christian faith and the promise that God’s children never have to say goodbye for the last time. Shiney, you continue to inspire us:
To enter each day with a generous heart.
To serve the call of courage and love
Until we see your beautiful face again in that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind, and where we will never lose you again.
John O’Donohue
You can share in the celebration of Catriona’s life in the video below.
