Thinking of you. Missing you. Love for always. Chris

Hi Everyone, below are the parts of my speech on Friday that I couldn't read out due to time constraints: 'Everyone here probably knows this but, just in case you don’t, mum loved cats. And dogs. But she didn’t own any dogs. Just cats. We grew up with them always there at home and I’ll always associate mum with her furry little companions. It wasn’t enough for her to have kids and parents and friends to care about, she always needed pets to care for too. In fact I’d like to do a shout out to all the cats she’s owned and loved over the years. Cans-cans was her first, followed by Ming, Mandy (who ran away with the neighbour), Diddles (who was with us for 20 years), Kitty/Sandy, Tilly, Sukie, Simba and briefly Venus before she was given away. And lastly Pookie, who took us up to the present day. Ian and Tina briefly lodged with us as well. Mum loved them all and they loved her back. As for dogs, she made their acquaintance through good friends. Like Maxine and Kika, Audrey and Monti, Ruth and Hattie and Annie and Angus. I’ll over-run if I name all of them so I’ll leave it there. She knew what was coming and was able to accept it. When she was in hospital in early September we were talking about her being able to be home for her birthday on the 16th. She said she was sure they would let her, ‘After all it’s probably my last one’. She saw me react badly to that and said ‘Don’t worry, I’ll always be with you’. And it’s true, she’ll be with me for as long as I live. She’s my role model and, as much as it hurts now, I wouldn’t want to move on. Because she was too important. She’ll always be with us. As I said at the beginning, we’ve been really touched by the outpouring of love and affection for mum and I think it’s proof that you get back what you give out. She was always thinking of others. I was reminded of this recently when I came across a note in her room which she had written in March 2020, just as the first lockdown was starting. I don’t know if she sent it out to anyone but it shows what was in her mind during that scary time. This is what she wrote: ‘To all my family and friends, you know who you are, if I or you are ill and we can’t contact each other, be together in spirit as we think of the care, fun, and love we have or had, and continue to love your life, and help others xxx’ Denise 22/03/2020. She also left another note in that 2022 diary with the birthday wishes. She left the note for Christmas day 2022. She put ‘Have a fab day family! Yes, love and laughter are around’. I think we should all take mum’s prompt and make sure there’s lots of love and laughter around for all of us. It’s what she would have wanted.' We'll always love you mum, and we'll never stop remembering the good times. Alex x

Denise’s devotion was to help and care for those in need throughout her life. She loved people and people responded to her in kind. She was a special human being, always wanting to do good. She will be greatly missed but her legacy of love for others, her endless kindness, her clear-cut dignity, her wonderful sense of humour and her distinct humanity will be with us forever, enriching our own lives. It was a privilege and honour to have known her and to have counted her, as my friend. With all my love, Lucia