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In memory of Sasha Gentle
by Zoe Hilton-Webb
I am writing this article in memory of my friend Sasha because I wanted to do something in her memory and I thought I would share some of the fondest memories I have of our friendship.
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Sasha was a very positive person. She had a strong belief in herself and her friends and family. One of my many memories of Sasha was when we went together with her family and my family to the dry ski slope in Norwich near where she lived. We were 12 years old and 13 years old (Sasha was the older one). Sasha was determined to get me to take my own sticks on the drag lift. Sasha knew I really did not like to take my sticks with me when I went on the drag lift. She also knew my parents were fed up with taking my ski sticks for me and had nagged me for ages to do it myself. She tried to find ways to make sure that in the end I was going to do this! Sasha told me to try to take one ski stick first and see how I do. I tried this and it seemed to work. After a couple of times doing this, Sasha told me to try and take both sticks when I next went on the drag lift. I tried this and it worked – only Sasha could have made this happen.
Sasha was a very inspirational person which has influenced me a lot in my life. She inspired me to write an article for the ‘Headline Nuz’ magazine for young people as she knew I would be very interested in being involved in this. We used to always go to the Headlines family weekend with our families. One of the occasions that we met up was when Headlines had a family fun day where we could go on rides together. We were about 5 years and 6 years old. Mine and Sasha’s favourite ride was a ladybird roller coaster. We kept on going and stayed on the ride once the other people had got off. No-one told us off, so we just stayed on. Once the ride had started we always reminded each other to hold onto our glasses so that they would not fall off.
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Whenever Sasha and I were together, we would always play with her little brother Ezra (who is 6 years younger than me). When Ezra was little we all enjoyed playing pretend restaurants and would invite our parents to come and have dinner. We would always swap roles, one being the cook and two being the waiters, taking orders then serving the food and drinks. When me and my family came up to Norfolk we would often go to the beach and me, Sasha and Ezra would always collect pebbles on the beach. We would then display them on the sand and decide which ones we would take home.
Sasha had a twin brother, Isaac who was 1 year younger than my older brother Matthew. Ever since they knew each other they seemed to have a special bond. As they grew up, they shared similar interests and continued to be very good friends right up until now.
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Although Sasha has gone I think of her almost every day. Life at the moment is very difficult, but Sasha has inspired me to carry on and not give up because she wasn’t the type of person to give up on anything.