I don’t know where to start and I could write for hours as Val was like a second Mum to me..... so I will keep it short (ish):

I spent half of my teenage years on The Lynch at Frank and Val’s and had my first experience of International Cuisine with Val’s Spag Bol. Val told me the way to eat it was to pick up one strand and suck it up. I was covered in bolognaise sauce by the end with all the Seabright’s laughing their socks off.

I experienced something else for the first time in Val’s kitchen..... I was about 15 or 16 and suffering a terrible bout of Hiccups. Sybs and I tried scaring me, hitting me on the back (he enjoyed that too much I think), making me drink a glass of water upside down and drinking water from the far edge of the glass with no success. Val then grabbed my head and gave me a full on snog !!! It was probably a few seconds but felt like minutes and when finished I stood there a bit shocked and stunned. Low and behold the hiccups were gone. Val looked at me and said, ‘that always works with Frank’.

Lastly, when Sybs procured a big old Puch Motor Scooter from somewhere (we were still in our early teenage years) we found it to be too heavy so removed all the casings along with the seat. So, pinching one of Val’s kitchen stools when she was out, we drilled holes in the legs and tied it on to the scooter over the engine and proceeded to ride around Winscombe, two up on this stool, obviously with no crash helmets or any other safety gear. Val wasn’t too pleased when she found out and one day after school, we found that she had given it to the dustbin men, after removing her stool of course.
I shall miss you Val, so very much xxx
Huw