I have so many happy memories of Mary and here are a few of them.  Some of my memories are better spoken than written and hopefully sometime in the future I will be able to share them with you. Karen you have our same wacky sense of humour!
 
I first met your Mum at the WI but  we really got to know each other and become firm friends when I gave Mary a lift with Judith Turner and I to the Womens Returners Course at Bury College. Incidentally we all passed Information Technology with Credits. You wouldn’t think so the way Mary and I avoided it when we could. Mary and I just went to fill a void in our lives at the time and Judith went back to work in the Civil Service. After our “College Days” we started taking our dogs for a walk for nearly an hour around the Plunge and Bleakholt  each day.  We decided on one of our walks that we would like to further our studies and learn German but there was nowhere locally to do so. Mary came to the rescue after rummaging in the garage she found some Lingaphone records of your Dad’s and so we would meet at our house in Acre Close and with the language books provided and by listening to the record we would repeat the words over and over as you can imagine in fits of giggles. We did actually get quite good. I can’t remember why we gave it up.
 
We used to dream of having a Tea Room with tartan carpet, table cloths with a vase of white heather on them and of course Mary was going to make all the Scottish Cuisine.  I think I was waiting on the tables, taking the money and washing up!
 
Mary and I both shared a love of music and we went to various concerts over the years including going to hear Mike in the Bury Training Orchestra on his double bass. Each Christmas we would go to hear Christmas Carols and Songs either the Rossendale Choirs and the Manchester Police Band or the Christmas Carol Concert at Salmesbury Hall or some other venue.
 
Mary and I took Mike up to Newton Rigg College at Penrith for his interview and went to Keswick whilst he was there and she often came to the Lakes with me to pick Mike up when he was at college. We would go to various  Garden Centres up there. That brings me to another shared love of Mary’s and mine gardening.  We would go to Bents Garden Centre at Christmas to see their wonderful displays and sadly that was to be my last outing with Mary in 2019. On our last trip I bought a Nutcracker Soldier and on the way home the head fell off so that caused us some amusement. That was the year we saw Linda and Eadie there.
 
Another time we went down to Luton to see James whilst he was at University there for a week.  We got into some scrapes there. We weren’t safe to be let out really! The day we were going to meet you for lunch there was a bad accident and we weren’t able to and so we decided to go to Oxford instead. It started to rain and there was a place like the Jorvik at York only about the History of Oxford so we went on it. It was very interesting and we were the only people on it.  About halfway round it broke down and we were stuck there for ages and didn’t dare get off it and of course sat there laughing about it and saying it could only happen to us. We had a good week visiting St. Albans, Dovercourt, family friends of mine in Kent. (Pauline and Nick stayed with your Mum at James and Stacey’s Wedding. Mary’s favourite place though was when we went to Windsor and walked down to  Eton. She said it was like being on the firm set of “Goodbye Mr. Chips” as if we had stepped back in time. I don’t know how James put up with us!
 
You will remember that I took Mary to the MRI to have stents inserted and we both remarked what a good system they had at the MRI for directing you to the appropriate department.  It was a different colour band on the wall for each department. We got there in no time and congratulated ourselves for doing so well but going back to the car was a different story. We were so busy talking that we took the wrong turn and we had to go back to the department and start all over again.
 
When I worked for an Educational Supplies firm your Mum came to Nottingham with me for the Induction Day and she often came with me on my travels if it was somewhere in the country and we would have a picnic afterwards.
 
I have so many happy memories of Mary and of course my last one was when you kindly brought her to see me in hospital.  Although we spoke on the telephone during the time afterwards in Lockdown and when we were both shielding.
 
Mary was a very special friend to me and I will miss her so much, her humour and the good times we shared together.