A treasured memory of the 2007 Sunderland Kite Festival came right at the end when Sakuraba San, a Japanese kiteflier, introduced us to a traditional feature of many a Japanese kite festival. We wrote the names of dear departed ones on a kite, usually the Japanese flag (the “circle of the sun” or the “rising sun” as it is sometimes known). So along with others, I wrote the names of Eddie Megrath and two other dear personal friends who had left me in the previous year. The kite is then flown on a normal flying line attached to the kite by a thin thread. When the line (about 100 metres in this case) is all let out, the kiteflier pulls it sharply so that the thread breaks and the kiteflier retrieves the line while the kite floats freely up into the sky and the spectators watch it fly out of sight bearing its list of names. There are quite a few possible meanings that can be attached to the ceremony, and you can choose your own, but a more beautiful way of saying farewell to kiting friends and a kite festival can scarcely be imagined.