I was a 13 year old schoolboy in 1973. In those days my friends meant a great deal to me, as they do now.

One friend in particular, Paul Faulkner, was my best friend. Paul lived in Fonmon Crescent, Ely.

My house was in Vachell Road, and often we would shine torches at each other accross our gardens from our bedroom windows.

Paul was actually five years older than me, and I thought he was really cool, with his guitar, stereo & TV in his room.

He was an only child and his parents thought the world of him - nothing was too much trouble.

Unfortunately, Paul also had a hole in his heart, which resulted in him having a heart attack when he was about 13.

One day, during October, I was walking home from school - Mostyn RC - when I noticed that all the curtains in his house were drawn.

I knew, from the pit of my stomach, that it was Paul - he was dead.

I later found out that he had suffered another heart attack, and this time it was to prove fatal.

My thoughts turned to his father, because you see, Paul's mother had also died earlier that same year, in about April I seem to remember, and what his father was going through, to this day, I can only imagine.

I can tell you though that he could never bring himself to open the curtains of Pauls bedroom, and they remain closed to this day.

My mother still lives in the same house in Vachell Road, and whenever I visit I always go into my old room and stare out over to Paul's window, and I'm that 13 year old boy again, shining a torch over to him.

God bless you, Paul.

Leonard Day - Cardiff - December 2006