I first met Chris in February 1974 when we arrived in the nurses home at Newcastle General Hospital. It was a dark, cold and wet night when 3 of us ( Chris, myself and Sheila ) struck up a special frienship. It was the first time living away from home for all of us, I was from North Yorkshire, Chris from Cumbria and Sheila from Ireland. We were all anxious, emotional and unsure of what we had got ourselves into, but would stick together in those first few months when we were introduced to the scary, exciting, tiring and emotional world of nursing. Through all the difficult times we supported and encouraged each other, the three of us always together. 
Of course for different reasons we gradually moved away from Newcastle but kept in touch through cards and letters, but as usually happens we lost touch, until in 2016 our friend Sheila managed to track us both down and we met up for a couple of days in Manchester. It was like going back 40yrs, we had a great time catching up. We all got on really well and although we had all had very different lives with some good and bad times we were still good friends. The photo attached is from that occasion, me on the left and Sheila on the right, with Chris in the centre. Thank you Chris for just being you xxx