When someone dearly loved passes away, times are tough –as those who have experienced this will understand. While this person cannot be replaced, some strength can come from those surrounding us. In this respect I wanted to send a heartfelt thank you to the enormous number of well-wishers from across the constituency and further afield who have sent condolences to my family and I on the death of my husband Charles Clark.

He was known by many and was truly a man of Somerset, rooted in the county as a seventh-generation agricultural auctioneer. Aside from his work at Greenslade Taylor Hunt – with his tremendous six-day-a-week work ethic for 30 years, with our family holidays having to revolve around this – many of you will recall his charity auctions, many of which I attended – Charles’s idea of courting in the early days!

The auctions, conducted in his inimitable witty fashion, held in venues large and small, raised upwards of £2 million for diverse charities. He had a canny knack of enticing people to purchase things they didn’t know they wanted. He was a trustee and governor of a range of organisations and, of course, more latterly he was chairman of Somerset County Cricket Club. Community and duty – plus family – were at the heart of all that he did, and he was a great role model for my life as an MP.

I want particularly to thank the extensive care teams who have helped throughout this almost five-year journey. The expertise and dedication provided by the NHS was much valued, from the local GP to Musgrove Park Hospital, the Beacon Centre, the BRI, Southmead, individual care providers, Marie Curie and the St Margaret’s Hospice team, to the church family and funeral directors.

I have learnt a great deal from this experience and will try to use this constructively so that people’s care pathway might be improved. I can already see that a centre, such as the proposed Maggie’s Centre, might fill a currently unfilled gap.

As ever, I continue to work representing you as your MP, as I did throughout my husband’s illness, so please do get in touch if I can help with anything –  Rebecca.pow.mp@

parliament.uk

REBECCA POW

MP for Taunton Deane

Memorial service: Kings College Chapel, Taunton. Thursday, July 11, 1pm.