Where to begin with Granny Vera, her death marks the passing of in many ways an iconic woman and a family lynch pin. Granny Vera had such an image because she was a live wire and lived her life as boldly as a primary colour. With us kids she put on no false airs or graces and often told others and us how it was whether we liked her opinion or not. Granny Vera was many things to many people, but to me she was my dear and very well loved, unique Grandmother, who always insisted on being called Granny Vera. For 15 of my years she was part and parcel with my super Granddad Bob, and what a pair they were! They both really taught me the value in creating things by hand and being active in body mind and spirit. I put my crazy sense of adventure down to these two entirely, and I’m sure that my Mum and Dad have 50 thousand fits every time I do something mad like paracending or competing in martial arts tournaments, well guys now you know who to blame! I have so many fond memories of both of them and I would like to share a few of them with you now. As kids we were always off doing something and very rarely did we watch TV when staying in Worcester Park. Now I often felt that poor old Granny got a bit of a raw deal when we were out and about doing things with Granddad Bob. One of Bob’s favourite things to do was flying his assorted kites with us kids up the Epsom Downs. Now, things that fly in the air have a tendency to also hit the ground, and quite often our kites would plummet earthwards with their strings all twisted. Now, who should we send to retrieve these kites and re-launch them into the air? Granny! Poor Granny Vera, it was usually windy and cold she had to stand 30feet away holding a kite with us yelling at her “Granny Vera its twisted… no, no the other way … no the other way…” eventually we would get going again and it would come down to earth once more and off Granny went again. I don’t think she got many chances to actually fly the kites and probably was the most tired at the end of the day from all the running around picking them up, but she never moaned! I also remember playing a lot of board games but mostly cards Granddad Bob loved cards, and he was also frustratingly good at them. When playing Chinese patience he would memorise everyone’s cards, and so in short he would nine times out of ten win. Chris and myself realised quickly that trying to beat Granddad Bob at a game of cards was a pretty futile venture so the aim of the game became get Granny to come in last, poor Granny Vera but she never moaned. Granny Vera loved to make things on her sewing machine and would often try to get all of us including the boys to knit and sew, I think some of us were better than others, ask Chris about his love of cross-stitch! Its no secret that Chris and myself had two very famous Teddies bought by Granny Vera that we loved more than anything in the world, Neddy and Angus. Now quite often Granny Vera would make us outfits and with the off cuts she would make outfits for the bears! In the early 90’s there was a horrible tradition of wearing day-glo shorts called Bermuda shorts and some where in existence there is a photo of me and Chris with our bears all wearing matching Bermuda shorts! I’m certain that none of my childhood friends would pack a wardrobe for their teddies when going on holiday but Chris and myself often did! Granny Vera loved having so many youngsters in her life and we were all blessed to have had some fabulous times with them going to Dunsfold air show, the Kingfisher swimming pool and various museums and sights in London. Ask me later for more embarrassing stories about Granddad Bob and his beloved camcorder! I know that to me they were the most devoted Grandparents turning up to all my school plays and music concerts but also they loved being a part of the lives of all their grandchildren and great nieces and nephews. I would often get updates on what Andrew, Gail, Justin, Paul, Jen, Peter, Kat, Sarah and Jenny were up to. I am also sure that many of us will remember the silly parties we had all together with Auntie Maureen and Uncle Bill, I think the Lord Nelson game still haunts me a bit… In 2003 Both Granny Vera, Chris and myself were delighted to have Dad back in the UK alongside Vicki and her now youngest grandchild Kira. Kira and Vera with their rhyming names became very close and shared many personality traits, shares Granny Vera’s love for swimming and Jam. This has led to Kira’s nickname G2, Granny version two! I know Kira will always think fondly of her short but sweet time with Granny and be grateful of all the lessons she taught her. Granny Vera loved her family very much and would remember all of us in her many prayers. What she disliked most about the world today was that richness is held by too few and poverty by too many, both Granny Vera and Granddad Bob often expressed to me their political views on how we could make the world a better place by sharing our wealth around, whilst this is to me an important political belief it can also be seen not just as a political statement, if we consider wealth as richness of life and kindness of spirit then we should strive to share these elements, unselfishly with our friends and family. If we could all just make some time to put aside petty grievances and connect meaningfully with one another how much richer our lives would be. I am thankful to my Granny Vera for providing me with such a great role model both Granddad Bob and Granny Vera now travel with me in my heart through all my experiences now and in the future and I hope to always keep their values of equality, fairness, fun and love as my guiding mantras. I like to think from a humanist perspective that when we die we become complete, we can see all that was and all that would be and I should think that both of them would want to be remembered fondly but that we should not mourn too long, for life goes on and as surely as one chapter closes another opens and we should blooming well get on with living it to the full.