I am privileged to have been a friend of Betty's for so many years. She was one of the kindest, most thoughtful people you could ever wish to meet, truly a friend through thick and thin, always ready to lend a sympathetic ear and give encouragement and support, always there for a chat, or a cup of coffee - or a gin and tonic. I have many happy memories, amongst them doing crossword puzzles when Betty would come up with a completely improbable word that we would greet with shrieks of derision that she had made it up - and then invariably find out that she was absolutely correct after all. A trip to Dublin saw us one night in the Teachers' Club, with Betty in full control of the mike as she sang songs with the broadest grin on her face - the fact that she was holding the mike in the hand away from her mouth was a source of some relief. Another memory is of a holiday when Betty returned after an afternoon stroll, with skinned knees - yes, she'd decided to climb a tree, and had found the quickest way back down was to fall.... The 'sea-horses' episode was of course the classic. Betty was a great person and I miss her.