Claire Prosser

It is with a sad and heavy heart I have to tell you that my dear friend ,Claire Prosser ,died yesterday .

Eight weeks after Rosie died ,Claire got in touch with me .Tragically the thing we had in common was that we had both had a teenager who had died suddenly .

Her son ,Tom ,had died the year before Rosie .He was just 14 and a student at Drayton Manor ,where Rosie did her A levels .

I remember we met in Papillon cafe and just hugged -then sat and talked and laughed and cried and hugged some more .She was fabulous – tactile, funny, honest and kind .Being with her was great – I never felt a failure .In a funny little way ,she empowered me .

The last time we met she came here for lunch .We ate and drank far too much and put the world ( well West Ealing ) to rights .We got talking about wine .Claire had holidayed in Switzerland and said the wine was fabulous .I told her ,the last time I had spoken to my cousin Alan , who lives in Australia and is a wine-buyer , he too had been raving about Swiss wine ,so I’d tried to buy some ,but it was bloody expensive , so I never bothered . Later that day ,I popped out and on my return there was a gift – Claire had dropped round a bottle of her Swiss wine.

She was kind like that .

I shall miss her .

But my missing her is mere drop in the ocean of sadness that her husband,Paul, and daughter,Ellen, must be feeling right now .Their pain is unimaginable .My heart reaches out to them and for what it is worth ,I send them all the love and strength in the world .