If you are like me and a follower of the Minack Chronicles, you'll be saddened to learn that Susie Tangye has died at the age of 29. She brings to a close the final chapter of Derek and Jeannie's lives on the Cornish clifftops but their memories will live on.
As a young girl I remember picking up a book from a charity shop called A Donkey in the Meadow. It was the picture on the front cover that first caught my eye - a donkey foal! Now 30 years on, I still have that book, together with a full collection of the "Minack Chronicles".
Two donkey weeker friends, Julia and Dennis, knew Derek and visited him regularly at Minack and in his memory, they have memorial plaques in the Russell Garden here at the Sanctuary, along with one for Jeannie and Merlin. Each year they lay flowers on Memorial Day and this year they will be laying flowers for Susie.
Merlin and Susie were Derek's two remaining donkeys and after his death in 1996, as he had instructed, they both came to live here at the Sanctuary. Merlin sadly passed away himself in 2005 and now Susie closes the book.
It was always a wish of mine to walk in Oliver Land at Minack and that wish came true a few years ago. It seems like only yesterday as I remember sitting on Ambrose Rock imagining all of Derek and Jeannie's animals running free in the piece of land that is now a nature reserve. Now Susie has joined them in a place of solitude.
Goodbye sweet, gentle Susie.
How sad it is to have lost that last link with the Minack Chronicles. I have spent time on several occasions making a fuss of Susie at the sanctuary, she was such a lovely donkey. Goodbye Susie, it is nice to know you spent the last years of your life in such a beautiful place.
What a dear tribute to a Donkey that I know helped comfort and change many lives. The Minack Chronicles are indeed a literary tapestry and sweet Susie just one thread. But we all should remember the woven thread touches many other threads on its journey across the loom.
Truly beautiful story and life.
Jenny B.
Dear Susie will be missed by so many of us. Whenever I've been at the Sanctuary I would often hear visitors looking for her or 'discovering' her with delight. Our comfort must be that she and Merlin had such a lovely life, first with Derek & Jeannie and then at Slade among so many friends.
I haven't been on here for a week so when I looked today and saw that Susie had sadly died I read with a tear in my eye, it certainly is the final chapter of Derek & Jeannie's lives, we visited Oliver's Land & The Place of Solitude in 2001 & 2002 after reading all Derek's book's, we sat on Ambrose Rock & walked as far as we could to find Monty's Leap, then last year in April came to visit Susie we have some lovely pictures of her as she passed us, those memories will stay with me & my husband forever. After visiting last year we felt we too had gone full circle, we long to visit you all again & hope to next year.
How very sad that I will not see Susie again - such a sweet donkey. I have read all the Minack books and it saddens me that this seems to be the last link to create the eternal chain.
I often imagined the donkeys in the meadow, the Gull on the roof and of course all the cats of which Monty was the first.
Susie will now join Merlin in evergreen pastures and maybe meet up with my precious
donkey and little shetland pony who both died in the same year aged 37.
What wonderful lives they all had and what deep memories they leave behind.
I loved the books and was lucky to meet Susie and Merlin at the sanctuary. So was sad to read the news last year whilst I still had tears in my eyes. 12th june last year two donkeys arrived at my gate needing a home. I think susie had sent them as I have always been a donkeyholic and attended the care course just in case my dream came true and it has