Rich was our allotment neighbour who grew into our friend. He always produced bigger and between fruit and veg to us but we didn't mind. His lettuces were legendary and we loved it when Anja would make an appearance in her wellies. Once a mould appeared around one of his courgette plants to force it to grow heart shaped courgettes.  

We saw in the New Year twice with Rich and Anya and their assortment of lovely, fun friends. At one point Rich's barristers wig made an appearance and ended up on my head for quite some time. The first New Years resulted in a sunrise taxi back home and a level ten hangover. 

Rich was a fellow huge James Bond fan and had a signed copy of a still from GoldFinger on the wall. I remember once trying to persuade him to come to my Spectre premier party which was at the same time as Maddy was due. I almost convinced him by saying he'd seen Anja give birth before but he'd never seen Spectre. 

Chatting about our mutual interests of travel, scuba diving, gardening and putting the world to rights filled up nights in the pub in Chorlton with my husband Tom and I. He inspired our holiday to Sri Lanka. His enthusiasm was infectious and his sense of humour brilliant.

The day I heard Rich had gone I walked past a hotel that always reminded me of him, the Athenaeum in Mayfair with its Living Wall. Rich and Anja had stayed their for a London theatre weekend where they laughed their way through Noises Off.