But she has also left us knowing what love and friendship are all about.Mary Eileen Delaney, barrister: born Bristol 20 February 1961; called to the Bar, Gray's Inn 1984; married 1998 Rob Small (one daughter); died London 23 January 1999.. The night before she died she was in EuroDisney with Rob, Anna and her sister Nicola. Mary Delaney's many friends are left without her guiding light, her phone calls, her gift for bringing people together and making things happen. Her fate, and what little self-pity she felt, were opened up for discussion with her friends.She married Rob, her partner for nine years, two months before her death and the wedding breakfast - an evening barbecue in a Cornish cove - had all the usual Delaney ingredients, children, fun and games. She would weaken and then revive but her zest for company and talk, for games and children, never left her, even when it became clear that she had little time left. Again, her talent for bringing people together and enthusiasm for the cause brought vital practical support and funds.Towards the end of 1997 Delaney was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of bone cancer and underwent a series of debilitating treatments.

She became a linchpin of its management committee and children's sub-committee, attending meetings, raising money and organising events. She was never happier than when she was surrounded by kids, organising a mad game that she had just made up.In 1995 she was drawn to Camden Women's Aid, a local authority-funded organisation that provides refuge accommodation for women fleeting violence in the home. Delaney's inventiveness and her understanding and compassion for children, qualities she shared with her partner Rob Small, made her a magnet for them. Virtually ever trip made in connection with the campaign was with her alongside, to Paris for the release of one French hostage after another, up to Blackpool for the political party conferences, to countless other meetings up and down the country.Her daughter Anna was born in 1991, just before the release of the British hostages. Every decision I as the group's founder made, small or large, was first checked with her.

The campaign would not have been possible without Delaney's clarity of thought and her ability to get people together. She had an instinct for what was right, for how to interest people in what was for a long time a lonely cause, and could enthuse others enough to make things happen.She put much of her spare time and energy into persuading others that supporting the Friends was the right thing to do and she was such an eloquent, persuasive individual that all kinds of people supported up. And stuffed inside a huge bag nearly as big as her own small self were the bundles of files she spent so much time on.From 1986 to 1991 Mary Delaney was a pivotal part of the Friends of John McCarthy pressure group, campaigning for the release of the British hostages held in Beirut. Packed inside a tiny bag she used to call the Tardis was her wig, gown and other necessary items that she would lose at heartstopping moments.

She cross-examined without hectoring, without any macho behaviour, getting the truth out in her own way. She brought her own humour and refreshing way of doing things to the profession, working hard for her clients and making them feel she really cared about their fate. A tenancy at 3 Temple Gardens and then at 1 Pump Court brought the beginnings of financial stability as her reputation as a popular family barrister grew.At Pump Court she was the first of a new generation of women at the Bar who didn't feel obliged to behave like honorary men. On the next occasion you met she would cut straight to the chase and her infamous memory ensured she remembered every detail, however embarrassing.She was called to the Bar in 1984 and during her pupillage, an abysmal time financially, she became a gypsy, staying with one friend after another, gathering more stories and thoroughly enjoying herself.