1 post tagged “ireland”
In 1979 as a First Year Student at Hull University in the UK, I started a day to day diary. 28 years later I am still writing this diary. During all these years it has remained private which meant that the decision to publish the Sixteen Days that make up this blog, was taken after a long period of soul searching.
What happened to change things ?
On 1st May 2006 I suffered the tragic loss of my wife Catherine. She was just 44 and had been fighting breast cancer for four years. Although terribly sad I also had to recognise that we were incredibly lucky. We had two super lads and had enjoyed a marvellous marriage. Catherine was someone with whom I truly clicked and the strength of our relationship only added to the sense of irony at our enforced separation, surrounded as we were by people who had split up, were in the process of splitting up or were simply enduring stifling unions.
Why should I share these Sixteen Days ?
I am aware of the disquiet about the current trend to "share one's suffering" when one should "endure in silence" and part of me agrees with this notion. That is why the blog is limited to an account of the Sixteen Days that elapsed from Catherine's death to her funeral. I am also aware, however, that it takes only a short period of time for memories to fade.
The first aim of the blog therefore is to ensure that Catherine's memory lives on. She was a talented woman, not just as an artist (by which she earned her living) but also as a pianist and song writer. In 1991 she was elected as a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour (RI), the UKs foremost watercolour society. Despite its rather passe reputation watercolour is a difficult medium to master and Catherine's vibrant works bear testimony to that. She was prolific, completing over 900 paintings mainly of buildings in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Malta, Ireland, The USA and Israel. The vast majority of these works were sold to private collectors. Her talent was recognised in August 2006 when The Independent, a UK National Daily, honoured her with an Obituary. You can read a transcript of that obituary at : www.catherinebrennand.co.uk
The second aim of the blog is to try to ensure that some good can come from Catherine's premature death. To that end I have a long term aim to establish a Charitable Trust, in her name, which will raise funds for three organisations dear to her heart:
1) The Deanesly Centre Trust, New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, where she received most of her cancer treatment
2) The Artists General Benevolent Institute (AGBI) which was founded by JMW Turner to provide funds for artists who had fallen on hard times and still operates on that premise
3) A cancer charity (choice to rotate annually)
Please take time to read what I have written. We are now nearly a year on from these events and are coping well.
If you have any comments about this blog then please post them and many thanks for visiting.
Mark Brennand
