Last night we took my recently bereaved father-in-law, Roy, to a concert performed by his former fellow musicians in the Huntingdonshire Concert Band which he belonged to for many years until stepping down to care for Vera as her health deteriorated.

It was a Battle of Britain Wings Appeal Concert and I knew Roy would have been in his element if he had been on stage with them playing percussion. Last year Vera had been there applauding them, and I knew this was on Roy’s mind all night who, for the first time, sat on the other side of the stage as the band played. It was immensely touching to see the musicians welcome him with so much love and affection and he didn’t need to be asked twice when they invited him to rejoin them.

What particularly impressed me, besides their skilful playing, was the Apple technology embraced by one of their saxophonists, Will, who downloaded two Apps on his iPhone to run a simultaneous slide show on an overhead screen showing images from the Battle of Britain and the war. This was achieved with the Apps Keynote (brilliant for presentations) and Air Mouse, which transforms your phone into a wireless mouse. They cost around £2.50 in total.  It was so slick and impressive and I can’t wait to try this myself. While the conductor introduced the next piece of music, Will checked his iPhone – synced to a laptop at the back of the room – so that the right images were displayed at the touch of his Air Mouse. I saw a tear come to Roy’s eyes when a picture of the land army girls came up, just like Vera had been when she met Roy.

Roy has had close to 100 condolence cards and they all say the same thing, that Vera was “such a lovely lady”. The funeral is being held on Tuesday.

During the evening I also made a mental note to keep practising hard at my clarinet so I am good enough to join this excellent band one day.

*Today I went on an 8 mile walk with the Ramblers and had a wonderful surprise when I discovered that its leader was a fellow journalist I worked with 30 years ago in Wisbech.

I had fond memories of Julie Williams (see pic), who now works on Spalding Guardian, and it was wonderful catching up on each others news as we walked through the meadows and feasted on plums and berries. We have promised each other that it will not be another 30 years before we see each other again! Julie had not changed at all and I find it amazing that people’s characters and idiosyncrasies still remain the same after so many years.

I always tell people you never know who you will meet on a walk with the Ramblers and I know of three couples who got together while walking with this group. Today, it was my turn for a surprise.

*There is also some great news regarding the book I have ghost written, Being the Soham Psychic. It has eight 5-star reviews on Amazon and can be ordered from the link at the top of my page.