I was greatly saddened to read of the death of Madame Helen Avis (Gazette, May 13).
From 1961 to 1967, I was a student at Ilkley Grammar School and for much of that time Madame Avis was my French teacher. It is as a result of her teaching skills that I can still get by competently in French today.
After leaving school we occasionally bumped into each other and always stopped for a chat.
I have one memory I’ll pass on. I became a newspaper reporter after leaving school, first on the Wharfedale then graduating to a regional newspaper. On one occasion I bumped into Madame Avis at the checkout in Morrison’s supermarket in Guiseley. She was buying a ready-cooked chicken. As she was at that time the owner of the famous Box Tree restaurant in Ilkley, I jokingly said I’d have to write a gossip piece about it – the owner of the most famous restaurants in Britain having to buy a ready-cooked Morrison’s chicken for tea!
Her response was to give me a not too hefty slap around the ear. We parted laughing.
Madame Avis was a real character and a remarkable woman, as the excellent tribute in the Gazette by Amanda Greaves spelled out. Though I saw her rarely, I will miss her.
Peter Lazenby
Calder Valley
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