Mary

This is Mary, one of our volunteer ‘minders’ at the gym.  She takes our blood pressure and heart rate and keeps an eye on us while we do all the things we have to get through between chatting to our friends on arrival and chatting to our friends over our post-gossip exercise cup of tea.

Mary is scary; energetic and noisy with a withering look, she’s one of those people who can be deafening before she even opens her mouth to speak.  It's fortunate that blip does not record audio.

In case you’re wondering - that’s not a cosh near her right hand - it’s a handle from an exercise bike that she’s sitting on.  (When I asked if she’d mind me taking a photo, she insisted on an ‘action’ shot.)

As well as looking after us, she also has two family members at home to look after.  And if that wasn’t enough, she’s getting over surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.  I have absolutely no idea how she does it.