Irene

The two young MacFreuchies and I have spent the afternoon, along with a good gathering of locals, celebrating the life of our former neighbour, Andrew, who died very suddenly a few months ago while visiting his daughter in Australia.

Andrew was an asset to the whole community, not just to his neighbours, whether it was as scout leader, committee member for the local sailing club and Drymen Show, or set-builder for the village pantomime group. The kind of guy who rolled up his sleeves and mucked in. He will be sorely missed.

As the saying goes, behind every good man there's a great woman, and this is Andrew's widow, Irene, who supported him quietly behind the scenes in everything he did. I'm sure she will have found comfort in the many tributes to Andrew.. 

The celebration this afternoon was also a lovely opportunity for the girls particularly (but also for me) to meet up with people they hadn't seen for umpteen years since their ties with Drymen are almost severed these days.

The chap who bought our old house (and inherited Andrew as a next-door neighbour) introduced himself to us and described the work he's been doing to modernise the property. We had a good laugh when he told us how he'd found a note in the time capsule the late ex-Laird had incorporated into the fireplace when we put in a gas fire. Written by one of the girls, the note read:

"PLEASE DO NOT DESTROY THIS FIREPLACE AS MY DAD WORKED VERY HARD TO BUILD IT." 

Oops, too late! :-)