The words spoken at Susan's funeral... Susan was born at home in Urmston, Lancashire, near Manchester, on December 1st 1964 and came as rather a surprise to her parents. All the signs: lack of movement, late arrival and so on pointed to a boy; so Susan was laid back even before birth. She became, of course, a real tomboy. As a toddler preferring toy cars to toy dolls and in primary school being the only girl allowed by the boys to play football with them in "their yard". Later she would be found suspended by her school dress from her favourite climbing tree at the bottom of the garden. Susan moved to Guildford in 1975 and became a very bright student. Academically gifted, she was also a good sportswoman. On sports days she would find herself entered for anything from running to high jump, despite being only four-foot tall! Later on, even though she became Head GIRL at St. Peter’s and Merrow Grange, she much preferred the excitement of BOY-racing motor bikes to a game of net ball. Then Susan met Peter and they married on July 26th 1986, 26 years and 4 days ago. Their mutual love of off-road motorcycling took them round the country, both of them competing in 1 and 2 day enduro and motorcross events, with some success. In truth, they became quite a central part of the scene. Few Enduros were complete without Susan and Pete and many a local rider profited from the attention of their faithful pit crew, Tom and Joan. Although Susan often competed, she also supported Pete when he entered the National Enduro series. Many riders would ask Susan’s advice, no doubt hoping for a decent line through a bog. However, some of the less able were just as likely to be advised to retire! In her career, Susan was exemplary. She began as a trainee accountant, rose quickly to a senior auditing position and later declined a directorship on the grounds that Mr. Taxman looked too closely at director's remunerations. Certainly not stupid! Now where did she get that from I wonder? Her Dad?! Her final position literally covered the world. Company HQ was in the USA but Susan made successful presentations in cities as varied as Melbourne, Delhi, Tokyo and San Francisco amongst others. Susan was also the one person that aspiring young managers did not relish sitting in on their meetings, because she had the happy knack (not for the presenter) of asking the one question that nobody else could answer - nobody except herself, of course. She was extremely sharp, disarmingly direct at times, with a wry sense of humour and thoroughly enjoyed a good laugh. One of her tee-shirts declared: "You are next on my list to be ignored!" but she never ignored ANYBODY. She couldn't. She was a great communicator and would talk to anybody. Whether it was in her career, sporting achievements or through her long illness, Susan’s personality and sense of humour always shone through. At one memorable fancy dress party she came dressed as a cowboy, complete with Stetson, waistcoat and chaps. The entire outfit being made out of brown paper she made an awful noise every time she moved. In the end one of her friends questioned why she had chosen to be a cowboy in the first place. Quick as a flash, with the weary pleasure of somebody who has waited too long for somebody else to work out a simple problem, Susan shouted: “I’ve come as a rustler!” On another occasion Susan was deep in a Welsh forest watching the final section of an Enduro when the legendary Jim Harwood came into view at the bottom of a steep, wet hill. Susan immediately pointed out the best route for Jim to take, as he powered up the incline. Then, disaster; another rider fell off right on the selected line. Above the howl of the engine all Jim could hear was Susan screaming: “Use him for traction!” Throughout her childhood and teenage years Susan was never ill. How ironic that she should reach her comfortable 40's before in 2008 being diagnosed with the most aggressive form of breast cancer and only innovative improvisation of the latest techniques by a group of gifted consultants was able to extend her life beyond the original prognosis of six months. When diagnosed with her final illness just three months ago, for which there was no known treatment other than an experimental drugs trial her attitude was: “Even if it doesn’t help me…” On July 17th at 19.55 Susan drew her last breath quietly at home, without a single word of complaint, surrounded by family. It was calm. It was peaceful. It was oh so very sad! May she rest in Eternal Peace. Even though in recent times life dealt Susan lemons, she always made lemonade and by golly that lemonade was often pretty close to being champagne!