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The Art of Dying – Drs Peter and Elizabeth Fenwick

Margaret, Catherine and David Eccleshall described these experiences. Margaret:

When my mother was terminally ill with motor neurone disease, although, speaking was very difficult for her she made 'me under-stand, that someone had come and stood beside her bed and reassured her that she should not be frightened, and they would be with her when she died. I could not understand who it was that visited her, but she was greatly reassured, and peaceful and accepting after that visit. That was just a few days before her eventual death.

On the morning of her death, I went in to the garage to get my car and I saw her clock, of which she was very fond, and which had, just been packed in the garage with all her possessions when we had cleared her flat. The thought came to me that it was a shame to keep it in the garage, and I took it into the house and put it to the right time, left it on the table and went to work. While at work a nurse phoned to tell me that my mother had died at ten minutes to eleven that morning. She had, not been expected to die that day, and I was very upset that I had not been with her.

I drove straight home, and the first thing I saw on entering the house was that the clock had stopped, at ten minutes to eleven exactly. I had only wound it that morning, there was no explanation for it stopping, and 21 years later it is still going strong on my mantelpiece.