There certainly is a lot to celebrate. I counted Mary as a friend and looked forward to visiting her whenever I was in Newark.

She was amazing - her sense of mischief was always there and visits always lasted a lot longer than planned. She was annoyed, one time, that the audio books that were brought in from the travelling library were what were thought to be 'suitable' for her age. She found a lot of them boring and wanted something more exciting. Another time, on a trip into Waitrose, we came across Hemp Oil and she reckoned that would be difficult to smoke! Mary taught me a lot about not judging by age!

Over the time I knew her she lost a lot of her sight and became more housebound but her mind was still sharp and her sense of humour never left her.

I am so glad that she left with a joke on her lips. A fitting end for a wonderful lady.

Selfishly, I will miss her on my visits now but know, because she told me, that she was ready to go.