Dear Luca
We’re crossing everything here that you turn a corner and begin to get well again but life is unpredictable and you know far better than the rest of us that we can never be sure how things are going to turn out. So, there are a few things we’d like you to know.
We first met you when you were about four days old.
In the weeks before you were born, we attended a very tense NHS antenatal support group which met up awkwardly once a week to talk about birth (yeuch!) and what to expect as new parents (yikes!) We had to sit on plastic chairs arranged in a large circle with about 12 other couples, all eyeing each other’s bumps nervously, until one week, to everyone’s utter amazement and shock, one couple sauntered in - cool as anything - with a baby!!! You were born several weeks before your due date (obvs. couldn’t wait to get here) And we all just stared, open mouthed in total awe!
Our paths next collided a year and a half later at a weekly toddler music session in Shottery led by an enthusiastic guitar-swinging lady called Gwyneth who led us every week through a succession of jolly songs with actions. At half time you toddlers got to crawl towards the centre of the circle to investigate a pile of soft toys and a dressing up box, while the mums looked on from the edges with a coffee, ready to step in and disentangle as required. I remember Clare particularly because she was cool and funny and, at the time, a policewoman. Really?
A year later, we bumped into you one summer holiday at a family-friendly hotel called Bedruthen Steps in Cornwall: it was all soft play; a little train that toodled around the site; exciting playground equipment and special late afternoon mealtimes with kid-friendly food served on colourful trays with plastic bowls and cutlery and early evening family entertainment - quizzes, discos and animal encounters where you got to handle tarantulas and snakes.
Next up was when you’d just started primary school and the whole class were invited to a children’s birthday party in Long Marsden village hall absolutely stuffed to the brim with an indoor bouncy castle & obstacle course. The parents were literally squished against the radiators around the edges while piles of children bounced and flew around in front of us. I don’t remember whose party it was but I do remember meeting and talking at length to one of the few Dads to attend those things, who turned out to be Joe.
And then there’s the wonderful, the unforgettable, the one and only, MISTER SUPER SYLVESTER!
“I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills...” 🎶 “Children Listen” / “Yes Mr Sylvester” 🎵
who - as legend has it - on first meeting Claire & Joe at parents evening, addressed them as Mr
  and Mrs Martini...
And the best assembly ever~
”This is what they were like at the start of the year...
(cue spitballs of paper flying across the room, ruler fights, kids shouting on table-tops)
“and this is them now”
(heads down in tidy rows studiously writing)
Ha Ha! (kung foo maths in the playground..)
A few years later you invited Christopher to camp overnight with all your family at Welfest and some teenagers decided to let off a fire extinguisher near your tent. I don’t think poor Joe got a wink of sleep that night!
Then there’s your final maypole and the post-maypole shenanigans on the green with you atop a boy-pile of your classmates punching your arm in the air in a victory salute! And who will ever forget your Year 6 leavers party at Synder Meadow? You were such a special class, top heavy with the sweetest-natured boys imaginable and you all had an immensely positive impact on each other.

 Although you went to different secondary schools, Christopher’s piano lessons in Clifford Chambers meant he was lucky enough to catch up with you a few times before you became ill. Once I came to collect him and a trap door opened in the ceiling revealing the two of you in an attic space which you were using for a daring gymnastic display of wild rolls and hand springs onto a mattress!! ~ utterly fearless. On another glorious summer evening after piano, we spent a wonderful impromptu hour playing badminton with you and your Dad in your back garden. This was followed by Forza Motorsport, which was more Christopher’s cup of tea and a fine excuse for the adults to enjoy a glass of wine after their exertions. Christopher also remembers being round at yours with Finlay playing Super Mario Galaxy and Minecraft windows 10 edition and Tara and Rya face-timed you all with a challenge to make a “Video Star” music video. You obliged with the Chemical Brothers’ Block Rocking Beats’. QUALITY! We’ve probably still got it somewhere. I will look for it.
I’ll forever be grateful to Finley’s mum for suggesting we set up a Book club for the mums of the boys in your friendship group in Year 6. When it came to my turn to choose a book, I nominated the most memorable and brilliantly affecting book I’ve ever read “Stuart - a Life Backwards”... which went down like an absolute lead balloon with everyone but Clare. I was chuffed to bits to learn that you picked it up and read it and rated it as your third best-ever read. I think Joe was a bit surprised and very dubious about the subject matter and the language (not your typical literary fare for 14 year olds!) but that didn’t deter you and you recommended that I read your favourite book ever - The Outsiders. I am going to read it now. I know it will be good because your literacy and awareness is way beyond your years.
A single life intersects with so many others at so many different points and leaves a footprint. Your footprint has been one of positivity, warmth and cheerfulness at every turn; always your own person; utterly original, bright, full of energy, with a wild shock of hair and a ready smile. You have made important and lasting memories for the many many people who’ve been lucky enough to have their paths cross with yours.
Good luck Luca
Love from the Wainwrights xxxx