The Grim Reaper.
Oct. 11th, 2009 04:20 pmWhilst it has to be said, The Grim Reaper is always amongst us and we never know when the scythe is to swoop, this last week has made me aware of the death of two friends - Debbie Merry and Paula Hewett.
I met Debbie about 20 years ago - I was in the Sealed Knot then; just become a musketeer. Debbie was at that time Debbie Saxty and had not long met a pikeman called Mick Merry; they both wanted to transfer from their respective regiments into my regiment, SMG James Carr's Regiment of Foot - they had encountered us having fun and tagged along. When I left where I grew up, I moved to a town called Leighton Buzzard, which was about 40 miles or so north of London. I shared a house for a year with Les, who was also in my regiment and, since Debbie lived in Reading, about an hour or so's drive a way Les, his then girlfriend now wife Gilly and myself socialised quite a bit with MIck and Debbie. Soon afterwards, Mick and Debbie got married then Les and Gilly got married and I moved to Bicester in Oxfordshire. I still saw Mick and Debbie at musters quite regularly but when I moved to Gosport on the South Coast, I could no longer get to events and my membership lapsed. I still kept in contact albeit infrequently - I heard she had had cancer but was in remission - that was six or seven years ago. I happened to call Gilly in the week and found out that she lost her battle a few months ago.
Paula was a keen radio buff and created Progress FM - an infrequent contributor to the airwaves around Nottingham. But this was the radio station of Nottingham Pride and had a special licence to broadcast around the time of the city's Pride festival. Which is how I came in contact with her since both![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
madamemish and myself were due to create a broadcast in memory of ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rock_bear . She helped Mish and I put together the show and it aired during Pride 2008. She died in the place doing what she loved - she was found in the radio studio at Peak FM.
I met Debbie about 20 years ago - I was in the Sealed Knot then; just become a musketeer. Debbie was at that time Debbie Saxty and had not long met a pikeman called Mick Merry; they both wanted to transfer from their respective regiments into my regiment, SMG James Carr's Regiment of Foot - they had encountered us having fun and tagged along. When I left where I grew up, I moved to a town called Leighton Buzzard, which was about 40 miles or so north of London. I shared a house for a year with Les, who was also in my regiment and, since Debbie lived in Reading, about an hour or so's drive a way Les, his then girlfriend now wife Gilly and myself socialised quite a bit with MIck and Debbie. Soon afterwards, Mick and Debbie got married then Les and Gilly got married and I moved to Bicester in Oxfordshire. I still saw Mick and Debbie at musters quite regularly but when I moved to Gosport on the South Coast, I could no longer get to events and my membership lapsed. I still kept in contact albeit infrequently - I heard she had had cancer but was in remission - that was six or seven years ago. I happened to call Gilly in the week and found out that she lost her battle a few months ago.
Paula was a keen radio buff and created Progress FM - an infrequent contributor to the airwaves around Nottingham. But this was the radio station of Nottingham Pride and had a special licence to broadcast around the time of the city's Pride festival. Which is how I came in contact with her since both
madamemish and myself were due to create a broadcast in memory of rock_bear . She helped Mish and I put together the show and it aired during Pride 2008. She died in the place doing what she loved - she was found in the radio studio at Peak FM.
