MY MEMORIES OF RUTH By her old friend VON (from Brighton) I first met Ruth in 1968 in London. I was singing at the time in a female pop group called the Butterflies. We had already made a record which, despite several plays on Tony Blackburn’s show on Radio 1, eventually flopped. One of the girls decided to go back to her home in America and we urgently needed a replacement. An advert in one of the popular music papers produced several interested replies, one of whom was Ruth. We chose Ruth, as we all felt that she had the most soulful singing voice – and, most importantly, she could harmonize. For me, it was the start of a wonderful, precious and long-lasting friendship. We always stayed in touch, despite both of us having moved around a fair bit throughout our lives. Typical butterflies, you might say – we even shared the same birth sign: Gemini! Back in the late 1960s, I lived with my aunt, uncle and cousins in Wimbledon. Ruth was living for a time in a bedsit opposite, and used to babysit for my youngest cousin, Guy, who was a bit of a tearaway. A challenging assignment, requiring much patience on her part, although looking back in recent years, she remembered him as a “sweet little boy”! Later on, we went our separate ways for a while. After Ruth met and married Austin, they lived abroad for several years, but we kept in regular contact by letter. Back in the UK - from the 1990s onwards – we often used to meet up. I remember staying with Ruth and Austin in Ely and in Cambridge, where Ruth and I enjoyed many riverside walks, and where I also got to know Shawn and Tara. And in St Leonards, where we would wander into Hastings and go browsing in the Old Town, or walking by the sea – sometimes to Bexhill and back, alongside the beach and the railway line. My most recent memories are of happy times we spent together in Eastbourne. We ended up as next-door neighbours – in Westcliff Mansion, just a stone’s throw from the sea. There were lots more lovely walks by the sea, and up on the South Downs. On Friday mornings we used to catch the number 12 bus to East Dean: to visit the village market there and relax over a coffee in the café. Ruth was an excellent home cook. She had the knack of producing, apparently effortlessly, the tastiest and most nourishing of meals. Christmas Day with Ruth and Austin was always an extra-special occasion. Like all close friendships - despite occasional gaps when our lives went in different directions, we were always able to pick up where we left off. I always found Ruth to be unfailingly generous, kind, loyal – and very good company. I remember conversations where we’d put the world to rights, but we laughed a lot too. Not forgetting our shared love of music – which of course was how we met in the first place. She was a huge fan- as I was and still am - of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Simple pleasures. Carefree days. Great memories.