Back in 1990 when Gillian and I got married, we didn’t have very much to put in our first home, not even a sofa! Yet I thought it would be a sensible idea to buy a pup – so we welcomed Matt into our world. He was a gem of a dog! He travelled far and wide with us, often sitting beside our first born Hannah, in the back of our Mini on 200 mile round trips to Fermanagh. He swam nearly every day of the year (as he clearly did on this day when we were climbing in the Mourne mountains). He was a truly great companion in many ways. Sadly he was also a wanderer and one evening in 2003 (aged 13) he ran out of luck and was knocked down, sustaining a fractured femur and that was him. I was away in South Africa at the time, my wife and our girls dealt with this matter and to this day I regret not being there to comfort Matt, be with them as they made the difficult decision to put him to sleep, and not be with him as he slipped away – he had given me 13 years of loyalty and I wasn’t available for him. He was a wonderful dog, always loved, always remembered – now our daughter Hannah has her own Golden Retriever, Polly, she’s a beauty and is already bring much joy to our family. May she live long and healthily 🙏