Bill Anderson R.I.P.

It is with great sadness that I have to report that yesterday this stable lost one of its staunchest supporters when Bill Anderson lost his battle with illness. Racing attracts all sorts, including some real rogues, but it also attracts some really nice people, and I know that anyone who knew Bill will echo my view that he was right up there at the top of the latter category. I only got to know him in the past three years - how I wish I could have enjoyed more time in his company - but that was enough to leave me with some lovely memories of a truly decent man. Bill used to come down from Kelso a couple of times a year to stay with his daughter Carolynn in Saxon Street, and it was always a pleasure to share a day at the races or an evening with him when he was down. He was a true enthusiast whose love of racing and of horses was so clear that one's own appreciation of the sport was inevitably heightened by his company. He became such a loyal follower of the stable, and if ever I wanted a sensible opinion of how one of ours had run - or was likely to run - he was the man to ask. It seems hard to accept that he is dead, because he was in such good form when he was down last summer, even though we knew that the shadow of cancer was hanging over him. It seems impossible to believe that the man with whom we shared a picnic at Sandown on a beautiful summer's evening, and then a barbecue in Alec and Isobel Notman's garden, didn't get to see Christmas. I spoke to him last about three weeks ago, when he was as cheerful as ever, and as keen to discuss the doings of this stable and of the racing world. He was due to go into hospital the next day for some more treatment, but ominously that treatment was put off as the doctors decided he wasn't well enough for it, and evidently his few days since then have not been good ones. If I can, though, offer Carolynn and the family anything other than my most sincere condolences, it is the opinion that, from my brief knowledge of Bill, the many days that preceded them were good ones in which he enjoyed his life and enjoyed his family. And I can also say that my life has been the richer for having known him. I pray that now his suffering is over he rests peacefully.