Following the tragic and untimely loss of my cousin Ross, my Uncle needed his time filling and his mind taken off the events at hand. Consequently my new house, and its retro bathroom, was a perfect project to not only occupy Steve’s empty hours on the weekend but to ensure some quality niece and Uncle time. It was on one of these such days, with the discarded orange bath tub upside down and a large hole in the outside wall that Steve nonchalantly revealed he had a Date and her name was Janet. I was thrilled. I knew I would like her. She had to be an improvement on previous candidates. I couldn’t wait to meet her.

When I did, I was delighted my Uncle had punched so high above his weight. Janet was classy; witty, independent, and clever, with an excellent sense of humour. She was clearly besotted with my beloved Unc which made me love her immediately. She entered our lives at a perfect time. It was 2006, I was newly single and suddenly it was not Unc at a loose end, but me. There followed a sunday ritual where I would arrive mid morning, we would head out for a long walk with Chris, Stan and Lucy, followed by a pint or two at the pub and then a big roast. For a single girl with married friends, Sundays were long and lonely days without a visit to Brent. Janet would help me dissect the night before; who, where, when, any prospective love matches would be discussed in great detail. Any ensuing relationship analysed and Jan’s opinion always sought on big decisions. She knew Simon was the one before I did. She was not only the light of my Uncle’s life, she was also my friend and confident. We plotted to get Lucy and Stan together and could not believe it when they managed it quite easily by themselves without any help from us at all.

Of course, as is the cruel way of the world, this happiness was not to last. In 2009, Janet told me she had been diagnosed with parkinsons. I was devastated but she seemed to just take it in her stride. And it did not stop her. She continued helping out at the St Lukes shop in the village, a pastime I appreciated, not just because it meant i had somewhere to leave all my unwanted things but I was allowed to go through other peoples before they made it to the shop (her sister Marion, my size and having great taste in clothes, being one of my favourite contributors).

What I loved the most about Jan was she really got my Uncle. She loved his games. One of her favourites was ‘guess the best before date’ (I won’t tell you about the recently used worcestshire sauce from 1998) and one of hers - but not mine - was getting through the holiday slide show pretending not to see the naked ones. When Steve’s wheelchair skills after the foot op bordered on negligence it was Janet who laughed the loudest. And when the beautiful freshly baked chicken pie was inadvertently chucked on the floor by a clumsy Unc she was not deterred - we scooped it off the linyl and ate it anyway.

What really kerbed my regular sunday lunches however was all the trips they kept taking. Malaysia, America, Sorrento and in 2009, a long trip to India. Back to south east Asia in 2010 and in 2011, south America: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and then later, Canada. In the years that followed: Europe, Cornwall and America again. The original diagnosis had been reviewed and now we were dealing with PSP. Most people would take to their bed but not Jan. She seemed even more determined to squeeze in as much as she could. In 2012, a camper appeared. With the camper, a little later, a motorbike. This was, in my opinion, the worst idea my uncle had ever had. With his partial sight and hearing, and Jan’s mobility and communication problems, between them they just about made one fully functioning person. The thought of him at the helm with Janet pillion terrified me. I was convinced because of that motorbike I would be addressing you all across two coffins and a motorway pile up but against all the odds the bike only increased their freedom and independence. And as ever Janet put all her trust and faith in Steve and absolutely loved being on the back of the bike.

I speak for all the Bakers when I say Janet was already a part of our family when she married into it in 2011 and the marriage simply cemented the feeling that things had always been that way. She was fun, thoughtful, and remarkable, and it was with great sadness we learned of her passing. I am just grateful we had her in our lives for as long as we did and that she knew our children, who adored their granny jan. I’d like the last words to be ‘Stop faffing Ridley!’ but the last words however must come from Steve