Although she was a very social person, we know that she didn’t suffer fools gladly and was often happier in the company of animals than people! From this love of animals was born Jay Cares. At its inception, her boundless energy meant that she was able to juggle her ‘day jobs’ with her house sits. However, as her reputation grew, she spent more time in other peoples’ homes, looking after a succession of dogs, horses, geese and ducks. By now, she had upgraded her transport from Bertha, her much loved, but very ancient Morris Minor. For many years, Bertha had been kept on the road by a combination of sealing wax, string and perpetual mechanical TLC from her long-suffering brothers. Now, in her green golf, with Shaun the sheep keeping watch from the parcel shelf, she zipped around the country from Carlisle to Cornwall. She often said her life was in her car - from loo roll and washing power to wellies and tennis racquet - if it was important - it was in her car. More recently, she was thinking of taking one more step towards the 21st century with the purchase of a new car. She’d been visiting various car show rooms and giving the salesmen her spec. ‘Four doors and a sun roof – I can’t be doing with air conditioning.’ One unenlightened chap had replied ‘Oh dear - a sun roof - how frightfully 80s’. Well, that was Jude, wasn’t it – living in something of a time warp and completely individual – right through to her often eccentric clothes and wonderfully colourful footwear. She wasn’t a great one for possessions, but she did love her bike and again, in typical Jude ‘get up and go‘ style, she had recently helped to revive the Brackley Cycling Club. Whilst the rest of us were enjoying a leisurely breakfast and the Sunday papers, Jude and her pals would have covered 30 plus miles of picturesque countryside. For someone who was always on the go, she managed to give others that most precious of commodities – her time. Children adored her and she had a number of young friends who loved her simply because she treated them just like grown ups. Likewise, her empathy with older people made her a much valued friend and companion to many of you here this afternoon. She was a great supporter of charities and was always raising money for different good causes. She was a great ally of the Katharine House Hospice and would run stalls with her mates, Pat and Dot, at events including Cropredy music festival and Blenheim horse trials. Sponsored cycle rides were another source of income for her charities as well as participating in pub quizzes. She still played tennis and loved to listen to live music. She was always zipping off to see bands and was, of course a positive groupie when it came to Brackleys’ own band, the Montanas. But horses remained her real passion. She stewarded at shows and hunter trials, still enjoyed the occasional ride and followed both the Bicester and Grafton hounds. She adored her racing - be it point to point or under rules - and followed her sport to France, Czechoslovakia and of course, Australia, as well as being a familiar presence at many of our local courses. Channel 4’s Morning Line team have lost one of their most loyal followers and the elderly bowler-hatted officials at Towcester race course are going to miss her chatter as well as her constant supply of home baked goodies. The girls who work in Ladbrokes here in Brackley will miss her too. Not necessarily for the size of her bets, or the occasional snippet of inside information gleaned from her cousin, Chris Broad, but for her unfailing good cheer and the birthday cakes she would bake for them. Despite her travels, Chez Jay always welcomed her home. One of the characteristics of Jude was that, even if you hadn’t heard from her for two weeks, two months, or in some cases, two years, she had the ability to simply pop back into your life at the most unexpected moments - and we were always pleased to hear from her.