Dad was in the Navy & based in Portsmouth when Georgina was  born at Grandma's house in Nottingham; Mum, Dad and George then lived in Southampton for a while until Dad was posted to Malta; a few months later Mum & George followed Dad out to Malta where I was born & when we returned home Carol,our youngest sister, was born in Nottingham.

We were typical sister's being very close and having lots of fun but of course there was also lots of squabbling and arguing - and thats something that never changed !

We had a very close wider family as well; we spent lots of time with our aunts, uncles & cousins congregating at grandmas house on Saturday afternoons and enjoying walks out with the dogs on Sunday evenings, usually finishing at the pub for a bottle of pop & a bag of crisps.

I followed Georgina through infant, junior & then onto  senior school  and she was a very hard act to follow - she was always so well behaved and studious, pleasing everyone & making a success of everything she tried. 

In complete contrast the tales of my mischief making and general bad behaviour always got back to her causing her a degree of embarrassment and upset that she frequently reminded me of for years to come.

But despite this George was a very loyal and supportive sister often warning me when I was heading for trouble, helping me get my story straight and more often than not taking my side and sticking up for me regardless of my sin.

When Georgina left school with a ton of O levels under one arm and a few A's under the other & decided that she wasn't going to university, but would go to college instead to study social work, I saw another side of her.

 A strong independent person who knew what she wanted and had  the confidence and assertiveness to make her own decisions and go her own way despite the many protests from teachers, family & friends to do what they thought was best for her.

Georgina enjoyed the next few years with friends & family having fun, celebrating significant birthdays & enjoying holidays at home and abroad whilst also studying and begining a successful career. 

During this time an occasion that stands out in my mind is when she drove us across Europe to Amsterdam to watch Forest play Ajax in the European cup semi-final; We spent a week travelling there and a week coming home and as usual Georgina was in complete control, in her own calm way driving in and out of European cities & towns and finding us somewhere to park, without a satnav, and finding us somewhere to stay, without the internet, and making it all seem so easy.

It was following a year living & working in France that George settled with Andy in London and spent the next few years enjoying a successful career and raising their two children, Sarah & Ben, who were,from the moment they were born, her absolute pride & joy.

Despite living miles apart we still spent many happy family times together, either in Nottingham, Derby,Hastings or Spain, enjoying Christmas and birthday celebrations and taking holidays together.

For my 50th birthday we enjoyed a family  holiday in Malta, the first time any of us had returned there. This gave  Mum & Dad the opportunity to reminice and tell us again that Georgina was almost fluent in Maltese before she could speak English properly and reminding me that our Maltese  neighbours wanted  to adopt her and keep her in Malta when it was time for us to  return to England  -  I think we can safely say that she was their favourite too.


Georgina got her cancer diagnosis just a short while after we lost our younger sister Carol to the same dreadful disease. 

As one would expect, once she got her head around it,  she took control of it and she managed it in her usual calm and steady way. 

She kept her humour and accepted her treatment as part of her life that she continued to live with frequent holidays,  trips abroad and several cruises that I'm not sure many of us would have been brave enough to take given the circumstances.

And she protected us from her anguish with her positive attitude & demeanor - except for when she spent time in hospital which she hated,  continually complaining & moaning, usually about nothing of any consequence !

So it was to my great surprise when I spent time with Georgina at the hospital in January that the nurses spoke of  this lovely woman, always pleasant, always calm, who got on so well with the other patients and staff alike, so very popular and  clearly the perfect patient as she had been a perfect student all those years before.

But of course Georgina wasn't perfect but she was very special, she was always there for me me, was a very valued member of our our family and she will be missed by us all very very much.