Trish.

The Belbury Parish Magazine.

I'm finding it really difficult to come up with anything to say, without it being trite or irrelevant. Jim has spoken well for all of us at Ghost Box, about the loss of Trish. Our world is literally torn apart; Trish has been central to our influences and, more directly, she has been there for us as an encouraging ear and keen supporter of all we do at Ghost Box and CafeK. It's only really just beginning to sink in that she's gone and I'm struggling to make any sense of it.

The most constructive thing I can do is perhaps share a couple of thoughts which are currently whirling round my head.

One thing that sticks in my mind is the time I was driving home with Mrs Jb, having been out shopping. We were blaring out Tender Buttons in the car (it happens often) and I had an idea of writing an Advisory Circle track called The Patchwork Explains, a direct beam of inspiration from Trish's lyric in Tears In The Typing Pool. Anyway, I made a note of it on my phone and immediately emailed Trish to tell her about the idea. Ten minutes later I got a reply saying 'Ah, that's a brilliant idea Jon, can't wait to hear it! Oh, by the way me and Jam have been listening to your podcast from last week again'. I was beaming. It makes so much difference to get encouragement from your fellow artists and friends, but to receive inspiration into the bargain is even better. It took me until December to finish the track, so regrettably Trish didn't hear the finished article. It saddens me deeply to think that I won't be able to let her hear it.

Jam and Trish have always been great at swapping Broadcast records for Advisory Circle ones. So I made sure I sent them a copy of the Denham LP on day of release. I got a lovely email from Trish, enthusing about the project. Up to that point, I was unsure how the whole thing would be perceived, but her words of encouragement made a load of difference that day.

We had a lot in common besides music and quite often would mail each other about interesting books we'd come across or films, or whatever. Trish would scan pages from some obscure book and send them over. I still haven't found a lot of the books she has recommended to me, nor used all the amazing titles I drew from her general chatting.

Losing someone like this, someone who has been part of your day to day life (even if it's just an email or whatever) is the strangest feeling. It's horrible and Trish is going to be terribly missed here, I can tell you that much. Again, I can't find the right words.

If anyone's bothering to read this, just have a think about those you love and your friends and family. Make sure in some way that they know you love them. If you're unable to say it, show it some other way.

Going forward, all we can do from here on is to appreciate what we have in our friends, family and loved ones, for however long we have it.

My thoughts are with Jam and Trish's family and friends right now. I will carry the inspiration Trish has given me over the relatively short time I knew her; and try to use it wisely and creatively. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what she'd want me to do.

xx