Sid

Today we attended the funeral of Sid, a true gentleman - Little Miss B's great-grandfather and Mrs B's much loved grampa.

Like many men of his age, Sid didn't like to talk of his wartime experiences, but for him at least they had a happy ending. After being injured in France in 1944, he was recuperating in hospital back in England when he met a lovely young nurse called Muriel - and last year they celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary.

He was a man of few words, but my strongest memory of him was that every time we met he would grasp me in a firm handshake, and hold it for a minute, look me in the eye and tell me it was lovely to see me again. Just lovely. When Sid told you that, you knew he meant it.

I only have a few memories of him, but I was very sorry to see him go - today was so much harder for all those who have many many more years worth of memories. I know Little Miss B is unlikely to remember him at all - but we're all so glad that they got to meet.