I’m writing with overwhelming sadness to say that Maureen, my wife and love for over 50 years, slipped peacefully away in the early hours of 13 October. She was a hidden victim of COVID. Concern over hospital infections led her to delay reporting her first ever skin cancer, and then various delays in diagnosis and treatment meant that the melanoma spread to the lymph nodes. After a year of chemo we thought the treatment had been successful but subsequent scans showed new tumours in her stomach. These developed rapidly despite a new chemo treatment and she was admitted to hospital some 4 weeks ago. Unable to eat or drink because of the position of the largest tumour, she was transferred to a hospice the previous Saturday, where she was treated with care and compassion. I know not all those who knew will remember her as both a proud and loving mother and grandmother to Adam, Sam, Lucie, Amy and Daniel, and also as kind, generous and compassionate: she cared about people and she cared about principles. Above all, she never lost that sense of playfulness that helped her stay ‘forever young’.

Thank you for setting up this memorial to Maureen. We hope that you find it a positive experience developing the site and that it becomes a place of comfort and inspiration for you to visit whenever you want or need to.

Close your eyes and you will see, all the memories that you have of me. Sit and relax and you will find, I am still there inside your mind