Rob Hurst

She never really had a career, but she would have if given half a chance, I think, because she wrote beautiful prose and poetry.

Some of it was very dark because of the black dog that haunted her her whole life.

And she used to write me and buoy me up on those long, long tours, which were often very...

Lonely, you know, most of it involves sitting by yourself in a hotel room waiting for something to happen, you know, with a fettuccine Alfredo on your lap and spectra vision, you know.

But she was a remarkable woman.

She had a privileged childhood, but she was a confirmed socialist.

So when Mum and Dad ended up in Balmoral, which increasingly became very wealthy, not when we first arrived, but Balmoral ended up being, you know,

You know, merchant bankers and lawyers and black outies and mercs, as far as you could see.

But there was still mum with a real socialist heart.

And so she used to pick fights with everyone she met down there.

You know, but she was a dear, loving mother and very supportive.

Of course, I didn't know that the depression had pretty much started way up in Kent Lynn, but I realise now that was a main push factor for Dad to leave.

And then Mum had a terrible menopause.

I was aware of that.

I realised by then.

And then she had been on a very strong drug, anti-depressive drug called Parnate for many years.

It kind of stopped working for some reason.

after her menopause, and then she tried all sorts of different medications to try to feel good in the morning.

And sadly, the last years of her life, she died seven years ago, six years ago, under terrible circumstances.

She battled trying to find some kind of happiness in her life in those later years, but remained incredibly supportive of us, of the three boys.