My dear wife Cheran's very full life came to a sad end when she died on 24 April 2020, having lived for several years with the life-limiting Alzheimer's disease.

Cheran was born in Chatham, Kent, just before the end of the Second World War, but grew up in the nearby town of Sittingbourne.  Her parents sent her to a convent school, where she excelled especially in mathematics and sciences.  After a spell at a technical sixth-form college, she entered London University, where she gained a BSc in mathematics.  She was quickly snapped up as a computer programmer by the English Electric company (later ICL), who were developing the first computer systems in the 1960s. After a spell working in London, Cheran was posted on loan to HM Paymaster General's Office in Crawley, West Sussex, where she helped the civil servants there to write programs for a new system for government banking.

I was working in a different part of that office, but we met in the office canteen and the local bowling alley, where many staff gathered for ten-pin bowling during lunch hours.  We became engaged on New Year's Eve 1968 and were married in Sittingbourne the following June. Cheran had always wanted to live near the sea, and her wish came true when we bought our first house in my home town of Shoreham by Sea.  Soon she gave up paid work and, from 1971 to 1974, when I was Chairman of the local District Council, Cheran became known to clubs, organisations and individual citizens as we attended functions all across the district. Twice we were privileged to attend garden parties at Buckingham Palace. Although still in her 20s, Cheran was loved and respected as a most excellent 'first lady', and she was a wonderful support to me.

After that, while raising our two dear children, Susan and Kevin, Cheran became involved with the Red Cross, Girls Guides, Women's Institute, Flower Decoration Club and the local Lifeboat guild, often taking on roles such as treasurer and membership secretary.  In 1973 she had formed the Shoreham Light Opera Company, and secured the right to perform the world premiere of 'Perseus and Andromeda', by national treasure Patrick Moore, who became our president and close friend.  Cheran had a beautiful soprano singing voice and took the lead in two productions, including 'Carousel'.  She was also into family history, carrying out a one-name study of her grandmother's maiden surname TROWELL, and she helped me organise seven ULPH gatherings between 1987 and 2005.  At the age of 50, she bought a bicycle and three times successfully rode from London to Brighton and on to Shoreham in aid of the British Heart Foundation. A committed Christian since her early teens, Cheran was a local preacher in the Methodist Church, organised Alpha courses and later trained as a Christian Counsellor.

Sadly, elements of dementia began to show themselves from 1991, although Alzheimer's was not formally diagnosed until July 2017.  Gradually, Cheran retreated from her active life in Shoreham and gave up a job as audio visual technician at a local secondary school. she entered a nursing home early in 2018 and passed away in April 2020.  We had been married for 50 years.  She was my one true love and a wonderful wife and mother.  I owe her so much.  Without her influence, I probably would not now be a vegetarian, nor would I have become a preacher, nor learned to ride a bike at age 55.  Cheran also sparked my current interest in lifeboats and their history and the glorious music of Karl Jenkins.

R.I.P. wonderful lady. Thank you so much.  I miss you.

Col. xxxxx