Coming down the Tor

I've taken so many pictures over the past four decades or more that whenever I hear of the death of someone, one of the first things I do is see what pictures I have of them.

So when I heard today that a former teacher of mine, who became a friend and colleague, had died, I pretty quickly found a couple of dozen pictures of her.

Other pictures show her bright and cheery face, but this one might be my favourite. It was 1996 and I was attending a conference in Bath, an informal part of which was a tour of Glastonbury by another friend, Marion, who is on the right in this picture. Our deceased friend Gillian is on the left, and they were strolling back down the Tor after we had visited the chapel of St Michael on it. We also visited a few sacred spring wells in the area. (We're all folklorists, not uhh believers.)

When she died this week, Gillian was 84 years old. I'll lift a glass to her.