Madam,

I lost a pal last week, and it will take a long while before I can get over it. Having written the Machynlleth Column in the Cambrian News for over 20 years, you can imagine that writing to the letters page is not something I usually do, but this is most certainly the exception.

Although she was 70, Sylvia Rowlands’ life would seem too short to many of us. Had she lived, there is no doubt that she would have carried on being one of Machynlleth’s most respected citizens, and continued helping people as well. But there is nothing discerning about a motor vehicle and neither do they care whose lives they end prematurely. Our community was shocked!

She was a pal of mine, just as she was to numerous other townspeople. No wonder then that St Peter’s Church was packed for her funeral service, or that there were some 250 others outside listening to the service being relayed to them.

Now that we have had time to digest the manner of her passing, those who were touched by her can now begin to understand that the quality of existence far exceeds the quantity of time. Her smile on the funeral pamphlet at the service says a lot about Sylvia. Indeed, I am sure it would have been difficult to find an image of her where she wasn’t smiling.

‘Sylv’ touched the lives of so many people with her smile and generosity, and maintained her trademark sense of humour all the way to the end. We will miss you kiddo.

Yours etc,

Bob Dunn, Machynlleth.

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