walking

A funeral today.

Motor neurone disease. There's no good way to go, but avoid that one if you possibly can. It was an aggressive strain, so he only had a year after diagnosis.

The elephants in the photo reflect his love of those animals. He spent time working in India and on humanitarian projects in Tanzania.

Tanzania provided a highlight of our friendship, when we went on a trip to visit those projects and I helped raise funds for one of them.

Tanzania

A small number of us manage to drag ourselves to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro. We know how tough it is. Alan did it not just for himself, but whilst guiding a partially sighted teenager to the summit at the same time.

A friend read a poem at the service. It was about walking. Between that and memories of Kilimanjaro, walking was in my head a lot. So to today's earworm.

walking

Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown took time out of his campaigning schedule to be there this afternoon.

Lots of people held Alan in high regard.