The life of James Cory-Wright – our much-missed diarist – was celebrated this week in a church packed with friends. It was as James would have liked it: full of fond reminiscences, and amid those memories, laughter.
And there was music, from Pink Floyd’s Breathe to Dance Away by Roxy Music and Bob Dylan’s You’re a Big Girl Now. James loved music and he loved Lewes. And in a fitting tribute, Trinity Southover Church rang out to a live performance of James’s own The River Ouse Song.
In one of his diaries for Sussex Bylines, James mentions his “fantastic partner”. And we were told his years with Krista, and their two young children, Dudley and Marianne, had been the happiest of his life.
James died on November 14, at the age of 66, after being diagnosed earlier this year with a brain tumour.
Here is James’ final diary, from July this year.
