Following a significant fall whilst returning from mid Wales on Boxing Day 2017, Maria had been admitted to Neville Hall Hospital, Abergavenny, for hip replacement surgery then, after the prosthetic had become infected and poor Maria had gone through an horrendous time with septicaemia, it had been removed and she was recovering at Llandough Hospital.

I consider myself extremely fortunate as a neighbour to be included in their family circle, so was a frequent visitor with Maria's husband, John, to her bedside throughout this difficult time. On 14th May 2018, I took John and my late mother to visit Maria - the photo included here shows John proposing another thirty-five years of marriage to Maria, whilst my mum looks on.

A bittersweet time, but let us remember that sweetness during the bitterness.