This is a quick note to say a huge thank you to everyone, family and friends alike, for the brilliant cards and presents you gave me for my birthday last weekend. But most of all I’d like to say thanks for the laughter filled time we had, it was really special and meant the world to both of us.
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Neil was always one for a birthday party, he had the fortune of having his birthday lie during mid summer and he claimed that it had never rained on his birthday. Confident that it never would rain, he even arranged a birthday barbecue the day after moving house one year. I didn't thank him for having to make party food before I could unpack the kitchen, but that was Neil! So you can imagine there was no way I was getting out of a party this year, lack of leg use and a teething baby was not sufficient excuse; he put the call out.
Friends came from all over the country, brought tents to camp in the garden and we put up a big gazebo. There was hardly a patch of grass left to be seen. Being well in to summer festival season, the party was dubbed 'Plattstock'. Everyone pitched in and we had a great time. It was such a show of love and support by all his friends, and even though he had demanded everyone's presence, I know he was touched. - Louise (2013)