I was lucky to spend a great amount of time with my grandfather

“I was lucky to spend a great amount of time with my grandfather. I learned an awful lot from him. I truly adored him… I remember in 1962 we had a massive dump of snow – unprecedented levels, similar to those we had earlier this year. I grew up in the country and was 10 years old at the time. I had never seen so much snow. My grandfather said: “Get dressed, we will go for a walk!” We walked out along the roads and everything was white. The roads were cut down by the snow and I remember thinking to myself after we had walked for a long while how lovely and beautiful it was. Quiet and still. I was really enjoying the walk, but I couldn’t recognise anything anymore and found myself thinking ‘I hope he knows where we are and how to get back home’. Then, I looked at him walking quietly beside me. ‘Of course, he knows!’ I thought. He never talked much but he had this really fulfilling presence… being next to him I was always overcome with this feeling of comfort. Of trust. I have three grandchildren now with a fourth on the way. I’ve battled cancer three times and always worried that I may not have enough time to become, for them, something similar. Or, even half of what my grandfather was to me.”