Our tribute to Ella... "lush"

.. in the words of lovely Annie - I love it all - but especially "she was lush"

You don’t need me to tell you that Ella was a beautiful, funny and confident young woman. But on the day I first met her she was beautiful, funny and very awkward! I know everyone here feels lucky to have had Ella in their lives, but I feel extra lucky, because we were set up as potential friends for each other when we went on to Ashton Park. They hoped we’d get someone to sit with in in the first few weeks of secondary school out of it. What I actually got was my best friend for life who would be there for me every single day, making me laugh and smile without fail, even in boring IT lessons, by text when I was at uni or at her bedside in hospital. And I mean really, really laugh. But I wouldn’t have guessed that when I first met her for our blind date 10 years ago on Brandon Hill, when she physically ran away from me to avoid talking! Growing up with Ella has been an absolute joy, and needless to say she shook off that awkwardness pretty quickly.

You’d think that always being stood next to such a beauty (or a fittie as Ella would say) would make me feel worse about myself, but Ella always made me feel good about myself, and I know for a fact that she did that for a lot of people here today. And that is a gift.

Ella could also really write, as we found out through her blog, and she was rightly proud of it, along with the wisdom she developed along the way and passed on to us all. It’s incredible that Ella could sit there in ward 61 and still be so understanding of problems ridiculous in comparison to hers, dishing out great advice too. Her art was something really special that she’s left with us. I looked forwards to receiving her handmade birthday card every year, which she even managed this year, thanks to Sophie’s help of course.

There are lots of memories of Ella I’d like to share with you, like going to a festival with her last year, surfing together with Ella rescuing me from a rip current and getting our A level results. But actually my happiest times with Ella have been far less glamorous – she made sitting and doing nothing more than watching music videos or drinking tea and talking about Made In Chelsea the most fun of all. It’s a credit to her that the best night out of my life was with her and the girls in a terrible bar in Woolacombe, where the average age was about double ours. Ella made even the worst times something special.

There’s no getting around the fact that it’s awful Ella had to go so soon and it all feels very unfair. But at the same time we can all count ourselves lucky to have had her in our lives. And I can think myself the luckiest girl in Bristol to have been buddied up with Ella all those years ago and have her become my rock, my boulder. She was lush.