Fat Spadger

Back in 1984 I was pregnant with Jenny and Becky was almost two years old. I was watching the BBC News and Michael Buerk came on with his report from the Ethiopian famine. As a young mum I was distraught and it forced me to contact our local Save the Children Committee. The kind woman on the end of the phone told me it was their AGM the following week and said if I wanted to come she would collect me. That was the beginning of a relationship which lasted until a few years ago when we sadly had to disband due to ageing membership and inability to attract new members. During those years we baked cakes, organised concerts, ran stalls and did all those things which support groups do to raise funds.

A group of us continue to meet for coffee and cake, and that was where I was today, at Joan's house. Leila often gave me lifts to meetings and events and she worried particularly about me being out on my bike on dark nights. She was a quiet, strong, caring woman and she died in 2006.

Beryl insisted on bringing me home today but I asked her to drop me in Bingley so that I could walk home through the woods. At the park gates she asked me if I had seen Leila's tree, I hadn't so I found it and blipped it from several angles. The plaque at the foot of the tree simply says, 'Loved By All', what a wonderful testament.

I haven't uploaded the blip of Leila's tree because it has been a dull day and the blips did not do it justice. I will save it for another day as I read on a journal this week that you should only upload what you might not see again, like this sparrow's expression. Leila was a great birdwatcher and toured the world following her hobby, I think she would have liked this one!