Joe

We've been to the funeral today of our friend Joe. He died on the 30th December, from pancreatic cancer, at the age of 35.

Mr Kitsch met him about 10 years ago when they were both working on a local radio station, and their shared love of music was a strong bond. Over the years we've had some great times with Joe - he was fun and funny and sweet and warm.

His illness was very sudden. He only started to show symptoms of being unwell last spring, and the diagnosis of cancer did not come until September. Sadly, for various medical reasons, it was not treatable, but we didn't expect his death to come so soon.

I cannot begin to express how sad this all is, and how I feel for his partner, Sarah. But I wanted to mark the day here, and give my own little tribute to this lovely man. We've been remembering him today with lots of smiles and laughter (as well as the tears), because that's what he was all about. Bye, Joe.