Ah Nick Oddy, extraordinary and lovely man, I’m so glad I knew you for the longest time, but as it feels now, the too-shortest time. We met on Swanage beach in 1971, the Oddy family beach hut was close to the Benson family’s. I was 14, you were 16 going on 17 and an absolute stunner. That first summer, with all our many combined siblings and friends we embraced typical teenage mayhem, laughter and pranks, mostly orchestrated by Nick, the leader-supreme of silliness. I must have mentioned to him how much I ‘hated’ my middle-name (teens are so black-and-white, it’s actually a perfectly nice name) and inevitably Nick soon organised a big circle of us to play a game of throw the ball to someone, whilst shouting out their name…their middle name. Guess how many times the ball was thrown to me! Our families met up in Swanage for only two or three more years, but bonds were cemented; our parents exchanged newsy letters and cards for decades; the two families, with multiple children between us all by now, had a reunion on the same beach in 1998 (see photo).

Back in the 70s, Nick and I had hit it off quite quickly from the beginning, and we met up often in-between those holidays, and every now and then in the five or so studying-partying-finding jobs-years of our 20s thereafter. With our own families in later years, we swapped catch-up letters and his Christmas quizzes. As someone who knew the 'me' from 50 years ago, who was always a loyal, attentive, fun, kind, mock-offended, teasing, full of heart kind of friend, Nick has been, quite simply, a cornerstone in my life.  x Barbara