I am proud to have been asked to speak today about my friendship with Sharon. Each of you had your own special relationship with her but these few words I have chosen are spoken from my heart and about a friend I have lost. Friendship by its very nature is free of deceit than any other relationship because it is the bond least affected by striving for power, physical or material profit. There are lots of people that can be friendly, but it takes someone special to be a true friend and Sharon had these qualities. Sharon always made time for me. She was kind, generous and totally unselfish. During the last 12 months I have had problems and worries over the health of our new baby and despite everything she and her family were going through Sharon still found the strength to give me the support that I needed - her priority was always the well being of Jodie and her caring was so genuine, her honesty, her positive attitude and her practical approach to life has helped me on numerous occasions. We enjoyed one anothers company - a good laugh and gossip over a cup of coffee was a regular occurrence in Guildford Road and it was from here our friendship grew. When Chris and I were moving, our greatest regret was that we would no longer have Sharon and John just next door. However I knew that our friendship would continue because we had grown to value one anothers opinion and rely on one another too much to allow a few miles to get in the way. The comfort of having Sharon as my friend may indeed be lost but the comfort of having had that friendship will never be. To match the grief of losing her I have the joy of having known her.