Saturday 16 October 2010

16th October

The 16th October has been a day tinged with sadness for the last four years, as it is the anniversary of the death of one of my very dear friends. I wrote about Emily, and in particular some bookish memories, on this date last year, so I won't repeat myself too much again. Like last year, the best way to remember Emily seems to be to do something with Earl Grey tea, and fortunately I have had a slightly better experience than with last year's Earl Grey biscuits which I described in the comments on that blog post as "the consistency of lego bricks". This year, I contemplated some Earl Grey cupcakes, from my Primrose Bakery Cupcake book, but I'm not a huge cupcake fan, so when I discovered a recipe for a prune and earl grey tea bread, I thought I'd give that a go! It sounds a bit healthy, but spread with unsalted butter, it had a rather delicate flavour. The recipe came from Martin Dorey's Camper Van cookbook which I shall write about more in due course, as I've tried another fabulous recipe from it.

More excitingly, I managed to find decaffeinated earl grey tea-bags which I used in the recipe; I've not drunk caffeine for over three years now which has put off the consumption of earl grey in Emily's memory, so I shall be making a cup of that in a mug which I gave to Emily, and which her Mum gave back to me to remember her by.

In addition, I can report that I've now raised over £1500 with this year's epic swim, which added to the money raised last year with a less epic swim, means I've raised £3000 for Mind, the mental health charity, in her memory.

Emily liked singing, and I remember her encouraging me to join the choral society at the boys school down the road from our school in my last year at the sixth form, where I sang my first big choral work, Haydn's Nelson Mass - an absolutely terrific piece of music. Later on, when I was at university, Emily encouraged me to audition for the city choir when I discovered that they were rehearsing the Nelson Mass. So, finding out that one of my favourite choral composers, John Rutter, was running a singing day on 16th October, less than 2 miles from my house at the college where I used to work, and that the day would include a performance of his Requiem, I decided that it would be a wonderful way to mark the day, and I'm shortly off to celebrate my memories of our friendship, whilst wishing her peaceful rest from the difficult years that led to the end of her life.

14 comments:

  1. Somehow I missed the post from last year and it was very touching and meaningful to read. Your honoring her and remembering her...you are a good friend, the best kind. My thoughts will be with you today.

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  2. Well done for making something positive out of loss. The money you've raised does real honour to your friends memory - and to you for having the strength of character and energy to make it happen.

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  3. Oh Verity, what a touching and heartfelt post. I'm glad you have found ways to remember and celebrate the happy times you shared together, but I'm so sorry that you lost such a dear friend.

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  4. You are such a lovely person, Verity and Emily's family must be so touched to know how closely you keep Emily in your heart.

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  5. What a beautiful post, and a beautiful way to celebrate your friend's life. I hope you had a wonderful time at the course yesterday, but I'm so sorry for your sadness and loss.

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  6. What a lovely tribute to your friend. And I can't tell you how sorry I am for your loss *hugs*

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  7. This was a lovely post, what a wonderful way to remember your friend. xxx

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  8. I thought of you yesterday at your Rutter day. I love the image of Emily's mum giving you back her mug.
    On an Early Grey baking note.
    http://www.domesticsluttery.com/2010/10/baking-for-beginners-gizzis-earl-grey.html#comments

    I really want to bake this.

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  9. This was very nice; I also missed the post last year. I love the way you take time to honor your friend every year. The Rutter day sounds like a perfect way to do so. I hope you enjoyed it.

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  10. This is such a lovely and honest post and I hope that you had a lovely day remembering your friend.

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  11. So often when a loved one dies those left move on and refuse to stop and remember to avoid the pain that comes with memory; you are very special to honour Emily every year as you do. ((((Verity))))

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  12. What a beautiful post, Verity, and a truly lovely way to continue to honor Emily's life.

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  13. Nice post. Hope that sarah's recipe helped.
    Martin D.

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