40 years without her

Val Earl, 88, Eltham

As our daughter Jessie sat at the piano, her fingers caressed the keys and her sweet voice filled the room.

Friends and family listened, while busily chatting or unwrapping gifts.

It was Christmas Day 1979. A celebration like many others we’d shared in years gone by.

Jessie, then 22, had been playing piano since she was 5. So bright and funny, she lit up any room.

As she sat under the fairy lights, she filled me with pride, not for the first time.

Later we all laughed as my husband John, then 52, tried and