Although it is a very sad time I am grateful to have this chance to celebrate here a long and very valued friendship and family connection.
When my late husband Bill and I were first married we lived in a flat in Clapham.
One day Bill came home and said he had met someone he had been at drama school with. It was Suzie, now married to Ian, and living in Clapham Park.
We became friends. Suzie had Lucy, and a year later I had Emily.  We shared babysitting and Lucy and Emily played together in their garden and on the Common, which on those days had a paddling pool. That was the start of many visits, meetings and outings for us and our families.
For many of their friends, Suzie and Ian's parties are legendary, and they began in Clapham. They were I am sure the best parties in South London at the time. Wonderful company, great food, and the Killer Punch that Ian made.  I don't know what was in it but it had the proverbial mule's kick. As a result the parties were often quite uproarious. On one occasion Suzie, who was wearing a strappy party dress, laughed so much that she had a serious wardrobe malfunction.
The four of us shared a passion for theatre and Suzie and Bill both worked at the Questors Theatre Ealing.  I don't know if they did any shows together but we had many great evenings there. 
We continued to meet for family get-togethers. Suzy and Ian became godparents to our son Luke and as he got older and became a keen cricketer they would come to watch him play.
We moved East and they moved West but we kept in touch and the parties continued. I took part in the poetry readings they organised at Raynes Park.
We disagreed politically but had wonderful political arguments. One election night they came to our house to watch the results. After a while we realised that Lucy had written 'Don't' on our Vote Labour Poster.
Suzie and I both lost our husbands - strangely on the same date but in different years.  That date was always of great significance for Suzie and me. 
So many memories. My main memory of Suzie and Ian is mainly of their amazing capacity for enjoying life to the full; being with them was life-enhancing and also meant having many different kinds of fun. Surely that is a wonderful legacy.
We continued to have family gatherings  from time to time though as Suzie and I got older we met less often. I hope we will keep in touch with Lucy and her amazing family.  Suzie was always brilliant, original, funny and kind. I am so grateful she was part of my life.