Eileen was born in London (to the sound of Bow Bells!) and brought up in Tottenham. She read History at Exeter University with a strong element of Archaeology, She was already a practising archaeologist with a lot of excavation experience notably at Verulamium and Wroxeter, She met Geoff at Exeter through a common interest in both archaeology and walking, and they married shortly after leaving university, in 1981. Eiileen stopped excavating shortly after starting a family (there was one barrow excavation at Challock with a baby beside the trench !) , but she continued teaching the subject for many years.

Eileen's political interest started in the 1980s and like Geoff she was a founder member of the SDP. In 1983,she stood for Ashford Borough Council in Pluckley ward, narrowly losing to the incumbent Conservative, but joined Pluckley parish council the same year, In 1987 she was duly elected to the borough council for the SDP, which changed to Liberal Democrat a few months later. She then served until her retirement  in 2003. That included 4 years as a senior member of the LibDem administration as the environment spokesperson, holding the 3 chairmanships which influenced the council's environment policies: Environmental Health, Local Agenda 21, and Hothfield Common (the latter dealing with all nature reserves on borough council land,not just Hothfield). She always strove to push the Borough in a greener direction, and always remained positive, ambitious  and community minded.

She also had a big, and transformative, role within the church, taking a strong interest in children and families particularly.

She leaves Geoff, her younger son Stephen, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Her elder son John died in March this year.