Diminished

Too many tears.  I've been to three funerals this month, all at the West Suffolk Crematorium, and cried at every one.  Three very good people gone, three dear friends.  Cliff Rimmer, Mick O'Shea, Colin Casey.  Most recently, we bade farewell to Colin this afternoon.  Most people who know me will have known Colin; and all people who knew Colin will miss him.  Like Cliff, Colin found the final stages of his life very testing; and like Cliff, he had a long life and a good one, in Colin's case a life lasting more than 89 years, five years longer than Cliff lived.  Mick, even more sadly, didn't make it that far, passing away aged 72 after a long and extremely brave fight against cancer.

But however long the life has been, however well lived, and however aware we remain that living forever is not an option, the end of a life is still a very, very sad occasion.  And especially if it is the end of a life of a very good person, as all three of them were.  At all three funerals it was a case of remembering the words of John Donne: "Send not to know for whom the bell tolls.  It tolls for thee."  All three people were very dear friends to many people, and are very much missed by many.  All three were extremely kind to me over the years.  I was blessed to call them friends.  Mine is one of many lives which has been made better for having known them, and is diminished for saying 'Farewell'.  To use John Donne's words, "Each man's death diminishes me for I am involved in mankind.".  I always say that there are two things which make racing special: the people and the horses.  Colin, like Cliff and Mick, was one of the people who have made our sport so special.  Gone but never forgotten.