I look back on more than 50 years friendship with Barbara. We met as so- called mature students at the then King Alfred College in Winchester in 1964, as we commenced two years teaching training.
We happened to be in the same tutor group though, in time, I realised God had planned that. Later, when we had started our long friendship, we both agreed that we had thought of the other,”There’s someone I’ll never get close to!! History proved otherwise!!

It would take too long, & probably become boring, so I will attempt to highlight some of the many experiences we shared, hoping it will give a flavour of our long & special friendship, & of Barbara’s full life.

Helping Barbara move from Winchester to Bicester, near Oxford, we got tired of waiting for the electrician so cut the cable of the Electric stove without turning off the power!!
Had two holidays in France, one where Barbara somehow got the job of running the youth hostel in Nantes whilst I worked with a French family. We met once only!! The second holiday was more daring when we attempted to hitch down to Marseilles. We had some great lifts, varying from a chauffeur driven car with an immaculate driver wearing leather gloves, to sitting amongst stale bread, as we toured country roads with a bread van!! All this stopped when we became over confident, the driver became over friendly, and when we asked to get out, he dumped us miles from anywhere!! It was a long walk to the next hostel! Easier for Barbara who travelled light but was always pleased to borrow my hairdryer, mirror etc etc
Another holiday was to a remote cottage in Scotland where water came from a stream and the nearest shop was miles away. Barbara was the daring one, off climbing on her own whilst I stayed behind worrying about her safety.
Barbara loved reading, playing the recorder, listening to music, going to the theatre & to concerts. She loved nothing better than to challenge her mind with new ideas and over the years her spiritual life deepened & she became more active in the church. In recent years she formed a strong link with Nigeria and I remember spending hours with her as we recorded some of the narratives to help the children’s English to improve. She even gained a degree as an older student by sheer determination.

Barbara was never afraid to speak her mind, had a strong sense of justice, equality & so on. We had our differences, which were painful at times but our friendship remained over those 50 plus years and I am left with memories of a special friend, knew her to be a devoted mother and grand mother, an artistic homemaker, a keen gardener, never afraid of a challenge and as she faced death was looking forward to becoming a citizen of Heaven. It’s not goodbye, she said on one of our last phone conversations. We’ll meet again in Heaven. Thanks be to God that Barbara has left behind her weak, frail body & has joined the Heavenly choir.