I'm so saddened by loss of decorated Ludlow chef and my dear friend Chris Bradley

My mate died this week. His wife emailed, to let me know.

Cracking jokes to the end, he’d been laid low by MND for some time, and perhaps it was a release that the cruelty of that illness came to an end as he peacefully slipped away.

We’d met through work. And, in my case, that’s true of just about everyone I know, with the exception of two long-lasting friends from school.

He’d owned a restaurant. I’d written about his food. Our paths had crossed and our lives became intertwined. I spent more time there, they no longer feared the stuff I might write. We moved along a similar path for some years, until he and his beloved wife moved away from the area, to retire.

He worked damned hard. A guy with a plan, he’d learned stuff at the start of his career, though mostly been self-taught, and worked silly hours to make something of himself.