My nan’s famous saying “sit down or I’ll cut the f* a**es off ya, will always ring in my ears. I didn’t understand it at the time but I get the ‘don’t mess up my cushions thing’ now. A many a Christmas morning spent with nan and the family as we were growing up. A very brave lady who used to drive us all the way to Birmingham to see Great Aunty Eileen. It was funny hearing nan and Eileen putting the world to right at bedtime. “Phylis let’s them stay up too late” [“them” being myself and Robert] as I lay there sniggering to myself as they thought I was asleep. The sleepovers in her ‘haunted house’ which overlooks the cemetery where she will be laid to rest were scary but fun. Sneakily sampling her finest wine in the ‘best room’ with Robert and Richard when we were only young! Her great skills in the kitchen and with knitting needles were second to none. Not a woman who expressed her feelings easily but she was kind and generous all the same, knitting me a blanket for my doll, trying to teach me how to knit myself [which didn’t go too well, for the record], making me strawberry tarts as I was raving about some I had tried, buying me a family of 3 deer from an antique shop as I took a liking to them. I will miss visiting you with my mum, George and Grace. Until we meet again, good night God bless nan.