Today a dear friend has passed away and the feeling of loss is terrible. Denise Bellamy was a force to be reckoned with and someone who took no stick from anybody.
She had a rock solid integrity and a fierce loyalty and was intensely true to family and friends.
She had no time for airs and graces or any kind of falseness, I recall her telling of the time a Tory candidate came to her door and she simply told him to, ‘Piss off’.
She was Welsh to the core and her rich, slightly gravelly voice, was redolent with the depth, colour and vitality of Wales.
She was incredibly generous and her cakes are almost the stuff of legend, and the people she helped, including me, are numberless.
The loss of her beloved husband Paul was devastating for her and from which she never really recovered, he was a constant in her life and today she is reunited with him in whatever comes next (whatever anyone else’s beliefs, it comforts me to believe that).
When we formed the Letter a Day group, knowing how brutal the online world can be, I wanted Admins in whom I could have implicit trust and Denise was the first person I asked. Although there was no Admin leader, for me she was the core through fair times and foul, and we had our fair share of foul. We have an ongoing Admin message group and settled on the name “Fuck Cameron”. It was the place where we let off steam, and some of the banter was priceless and a relief from some of the more trying times when things kicked off in the group.
I am so grateful to Jenny for contacting me to let me know that Denise was critically ill in hospital, even the thought of losing Denise reduced me to tears and my heart goes out to Jenny for the loss of her best mate and to Denise’s family who must somehow survive this terrible loss.
What can I say other than fly well my friend, we are left with precious memories of you, which live on in us. Grieving is for the living and is the measure of our love. We will not forget you.
With love to a dear departed friend.
Keith. 01 January 2017
