I haven’t known Rosie for very long – only really through her teens – but the impression she made on me is extraordinary, so I’d like to share it with you. First to say I’m not sure Rosie would like to hear personal tributes, she was always rather modest and self-effacing. I met her through her Grandmother Sue who has been a friend for many years. I was looking for a model for a life sized statue of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus that now stands – or rather sits – in a niche in the Lady Chapel at St George’s church Great Bromley. I don’t know what she was expecting, but being draped in sheets as she knelt on my dining table probably wasn’t even close. The sit took ages, but Rosie patiently adjusted her pose and expression as I ran around photographing her from all angles. Her second sitting for me is yet to come to fruition. The Taylor sisters (who wrote the poem that became Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) lived in Colchester and when I was approached to model them for a statue that will stand in the High Street I knew Rosie would be perfect. She asked her best friend Emma and together they came to a costumiers in Cambridge to be dressed and bonneted in the style of those times. Again they posed and re-enacted the look of people star gazing in delight. They were even happy to return for repeat poses (this time without the costumes). Finally, despite being very ill indeed, Rosie allowed me to model her face – and it is this uplifted face that will feature on the statue. I only hope I can do justice to this delightful young woman. Rosie, thank you from the bottom of my heart, you are irreplaceable x
Mandy Pratt
  
Just a very few of the images I have of Rosie that I’d like to share with you all xx