Last night as I lay quietly in bed, a whole load of noise and action was playing out in my head. At one point it got so loud I wondered if it would wake up the dogs and set them off barking. However, it didn’t and eventually all the palaver settled down and one of my last thoughts, just before I dropped off to sleep was that the saying ‘we come into this world alone; therefore it is natural for us to leave it alone’ isn’t quite true.

For example, when we are born there is always at least one other person present, our mother! And, often, when we die, it is often in the company of others, such as nurses and doctors.

Although I was fortunate enough to spend her last evening with my aunty, I wasn’t by her side when she stopped breathing and slipped away in the early hours of the morning.

However, I know that there were some gentle, caring people to hand.

Those hands would have carefully closed her beautiful blue eyes and removed all the intruding needles from her fragile skin.

The same hands would have silently cleaned and gently wrapped her childlike body, for the last time, before lifting her from her bed.

As in death, so during birth there are the hands of the midwifes and doctors, to ease the delivery and ensure the safety and survival of the new arrival.

These hands also work unseen and are soon forgotten, once the task has been completed.

However, they are, nevertheless always there when needed.