FRIENDS and family have gathered to remember a local woman who finished a book about dying shortly before her death.

Rev. Ruth Scott was the presenter of BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought for 23 years, first with Terry Wogan then with Chris Evans.

She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in 2017 and was cared for by Southampton General Hospital, mainly the lymphoma team.

Much of her book Between Living and Dying: Reflections from the Edge of Experience was written while she was an inpatient on the Oncology Ward, and her final broadcast was with Chris Evans from her hospital bed when she only had a few weeks to live. She died shortly afterwards, on February 20 this year. Chris Evans described her as “beautiful, brave and, most of all, inspiring”.

Ruth said in the forward of her book that her beloved husband Chris had been her strength and stay, and that her daughter Freya and son Tian had continually inspired her.

She said that she wanted her book to be a meditation on life, not death, offering observations and asking questions that have occurred to her through this gap year’.

In the foreword Richard Holloway wrote ‘this book is not for the faint-hearted, you will read vivid descriptions of her treatment and its consequences – and the humour that often attended both. It is a wrenching read, but it is also funny and affectionate. It is also a magnificent tribute to Britain’s National Health Service and the people who make it work, often against incredible odds’.

A gathering of family and friends to celebrate the publication of Ruth’s book was held recently at the Quaker Meeting House in Colebrook Street when copies of the book, which Ruth only finished a few days before her death, were sold.

Between Living and Dying: Reflections from the Edge of Experience. Copies of the book are available from the publishers Birlinn Limited at www.birlinn.co.uk and at amazon.co.uk.