I knew Charlotte for a short while in our early twenties. We worked together on the ‘display team’ window dressing for Westgate dept stores.

My memory is rubbish but what I can recall is some hilarious and fun times on our travels dressing windows in the likes of Corby, Cowley, Cinderford & Lowestoft! Our team would head off at the crack of dawn listening to one of Jeremy’s mix tapes, stopping off at McDonalds on the way. We would have to stay overnight sometimes at places such as ‘The Swan’ in Beccles where we would eat garlic mushrooms and giggle at the waitress who had a very gravelly voice.

I remember Charlotte being very driven and passionate. She was driving an old red VW (was it a Golf?!) and had bought her own house near The Glass Onion. Back then we had to design our own window runs and make our own props. One of Charlottes that comes to mind was a window for washing machines etc. Instead of the normal bog standard white goods window, she had us painting massive sheets of MDF in blue & white and cutting square holes for the washing machine to sit behind, we were balancing tumble dryers on plinths. It looked great in the end but perhaps was a bit too forward thinking for the Co-op back then!

Charlotte was always strongly opinionated about art and I can remember the strong debate with another colleague over the Tracey Emin ‘My Bed’…

Charlotte and I lost touch when she moved on from Westgate and it was only last year that we made friends on Facebook. I could see that Charlotte had gone on to fulfill her dreams and become an artist as well as a wife and mother. Sebastian and Olivia are beautiful and look just like Charlotte! (I remember us having a joke that Charlotte was a Jodie Foster lookalike!). Having two children myself I cannot begin to understand her strength. My youngest daughter Tess, shares Charlottes birthday in fact – 20th Oct.

Of course I am always happy to be contacted & I send much love xxx