Carolyn and I first met about 35 years ago in the headmaster's study at Ashley School in Walton on Thames, when we were both looking round the local schools to choose which one to send our older children to. Carolyn had a two year old Julia with her and I had my daughter Leah who was about six months older.  Julia sat like an angel in her pushchair while Leah became such a pain that we were asked to leave! We were actually thrown out of the headmaster's study.

Carolyn was very sympathetic (her other daughter wasn't quite so docile and she had sympathy!).  We got talking later and had a cup of coffee together.  To this day I can't remember if we went to her house or mine but I remember thinking how nice it was to meet someone who didn't think twice about doing that when we had only just met.  I think it is a short cut that people who have moved around a lot seem to have naturally.  You want to make friends quickly.  And we did...

We spent many hours at our kitchen tables talking about ideas of how to make a living whilst having very young children.  It was still a few years before she decided on homeopathy.  Leah and Julia became good playmates and that continued for many years.

Luckily I met Carolyn before I met Gary!  He made some rude comment about what I was wearing as soon as we met.  He tells the story that I was wearing leather trousers and a bustier - perhaps a little in his dreams.  The leather trousers were true but I have never owned a bustier......

The four of us started meeting up and over the years had so many evenings of fun from dancing to Back Street Boys in our living rooms to the infamous games of charades on New Years Eve.  Carolyn always insisted on us playing boys against girls - probably because we girls were always so much better.  The pinnacle moment of all these games must have been when my husband Richard was trying to mime Country Roads, which would have seemed fairly straightforward.  He launched into the first word, dividing it into two syllables and did the second syllable first.  The boys got "tree" fairly quickly.  Richard then bravely moved on to the first syllable and despite some spectacular miming they failed to get it.  The girls were on it straight away and were semi hysterical by now.  The boys eventually ran out of time.

The new years eve group (which became known as "the usual suspects") was sort of formed during another memorable occasion which was on Carolyn and Gary's 25th wedding anniversary when 8 of us went to Turkey together for a week.  On the first morning Richard wanted to buy a hat so the boys all went off together.  We waited a short while but they were taking too long so we decided to have lunch without them.  We ordered a bottle of rose to go with it.  By the time the boys got back from their "shopping" we 4 girls had got through 5 bottles of rose and it was dark.  The boys were expecting a total dressing down but instead found Carolyn, Dolores, Helen and me in great spirits and we hadn't missed them at all.  It then turned into a memorable evening as well.  Unfortunately the next day was their actual anniversary and it was quite a struggle for us all to celebrate again with such enthusiasm!  I took along some things to dress them up for the day - Carolyn wore the tiara most of the day and Gary bravely wore the giant bowtie.  The rest of us decorated our sunglasses with pipecleaners.  It continued to be an amazing week and the start of many great evenings together over the years.

Sadly it was just after this trip that Carolyn's cancer was diagnosed but she never let that stop a whole host of great times together, sometimes ending with me and Gary playing cribbage while Richard took on Carolyn's never wavering belief in homeopathy.

She was an inspiring woman with a great understanding of people and was always ready to talk and help anyone.  I am so grateful that she joined me for that first coffee.  Thank you for that, Carolyn, and for all the years of friendship that followed.  You and Gary have had a special place in our lives for a very long time.