Catherine enrolled in one of my French classes in January 2015. At the time Catherine's class was an all-woman group, very friendly and easy going, where Catherine quickly found her place. Although she was far more advanced than the other members, she never made them feel embarrassed when they made mistakes. On the contrary, she was always very supportive of others and never jumped in with the correct answer when they were struggling. For me as a teacher, she was a delightful student, and, although I had little to teach her, she was always eager to learn new words or new grammatical structures which, as a true linguist, she assimilated instantly. But Catherine was far more than just another student. I, we, all had a better lesson when she was with us. She seemed to bring a certain calm, with her down-to-earth approach and her focus on what mattered most to her, namely family and friends. She spoke so well and with so much love of her family, Hugh, Sarah, Mary and Jenny, that we think we know them, and we’re very fond of them all without having met them. Some of us are also very fond of Lucy! Catherine would always see the funny side of things. She could make us laugh even with the most mundane things, in perfect French of course. When she told us she was sick with MND, there was no self-pity, quite on the contrary, it seemed that she was sorry to have to tell us some hard to take news. Almost as she was saying, “don’t make a fuss, it’s ok”. As we struggled to find words of comfort we knew would be meaningless, she even managed a smile, a “don’t mind me” smile. That was Catherine, as we knew her, talented, brave, kind and also very funny. We feel for her family who have lost such a wonderful woman as a partner and mother. We were very fortunate to have met her and we miss her very much. Our classes will never be the same again without dear Catherine. Babette, Kate, Nicky, Sue, Mike and Cristina

I still remember the day Hugh introduced me to Catherine. She made me laugh then and that sense of humour continued to the very end. She was an inspiration. God bless you Catherine. Xxx

Catherine, I still remember the time Hugh introduced you to me and how you made me laugh. That quirky sense of humour continued right to the end. You were truly an inspiration. Bless you. Xxx