Sunetra Sarker

Do you remember when you first met Louise?

I met Louise in the playground when we were aged 4 at the covent primary school we both went to in Liverpool. She had a slight Irish accent back then before it became broad Scouse. I remember she was cheeky and quite the tomboy with a gap in her teeth and messy hair. 

We were both chatty and lively, and we became firm friends with a set of twins with whom we formed a strong friendship foursome.

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What was Louise like back then?

I remember Lou always creating new games to play and forever being curious. We had scars on our knees daily and plasters on our elbows from Louise teaching me how to climb trees. The nuns would despair as Louise and I would often be laughing during class and chapel time.

We loved our school life and, as adults, still reminisced at how lucky we had been to meet and stay friends from such a young age.

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We joked that we were each other's oldest friends, and we cherished that as we both led such diversely different lives as adults. But that's what we also loved about our friendship: how similar and different we were, starting on the same day at the same school.

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We progressed together to a new secondary school when we were 12, Huyton College—and our friendship was cemented even more as Louise, who was forever the most popular of girls, would always include me in anything that I would normally have been overlooked for. 

She elevated me to be seen as an equal in ways I don't know many who would at that age. We belonged to the same school house, St Hilda's, and having Lou in our sporting corner always kept us top of the leaderboard.

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I was useless at sports, but Lou was magnificent and always encouraged me, especially in netball. Thanks to Lou’s ferocious skills playing centre and as our captain, I actually got better at netball as a wing attack.

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Louise’s birthday parties regularly involved horse riding, tennis, and swimming, and she always wanted us to try things we had never tried before. Playing games was her favourite hobby. She was a natural talent at everything she tried.

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What was Louise like as a teenager?

When Lou moved to Jersey I went to visit her the first chance I could—aged 16 she had sorted out a fake provisional driving licence for me to go out clubbing with her, and she was the most entrepreneurial of friends you could ask for. 

She would go along with my white lies as to why we needed a free lift off an ice cream van driver and laugh along as he took us to the wrong place! We would jump the queues in the nightclubs as I would say that I thought I’d lost my earring inside—that sort of thing.

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Do you have any standout memories?

In July 2000, we both lived in London, and I happened to hear that it was the first ever Big Brother TV Final in a place I knew how to get to. We ended up sneaking into the VIP friends and climbing over a staff entrance gate to get into a family zone, where we somehow blagged our way into the winner's enclosure and attended the showbiz afterparty. We got a free hotel room to sleep in as if we were finalists! How we did it, I still don't know, but we laughed ‘til we cried as we sat on the tube home recounting what a night we had fallen into.

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That was the beauty of Lou. You could trust her to go along with any ambition or curiosity no matter what—she was always up for discovery and fun.

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Most importantly, I remember the time Louise introduced me to her friend Nick, a man I would later marry and have my son with, and how important she was in making that relationship possible. Her loyalty to me and generosity in letting me stay with her any chance I could get to see him were invaluable. She is the reason I am a mother, and I told her this in one of our last conversations, which we both shared.

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The last time I saw Lou, she took me sea swimming in the freezing St Annes Port. We laughed because we knew we would be screaming and complaining but loving it all at once. She was still up for introducing me to new adventures.

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What did your friendship with Lou mean to you?

Louise was so many things to so many people, and she was the most modest of all. She was an inspiration, and I feel I may have also inspired her at times too. 

Louise championed my TV career in a way I can't describe. Her pride in me was incredible - she watched everything I did, texted me constantly to sing my praises, and never stopped telling me how much she believed in me. 

I miss her a lot —a lot—and she leaves me with nothing but internal smiles, memories, and giggles when I think back over our 46-year friendship. 

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Can you describe Lou’s enthusiasm for sports?

Watching Louise on the sidelines with any of our children, including obviously her own, was the most remarkable aspect of her encouragement. 

She didn't stop to scroll through her phone like the rest of us would—she would fiercely shout at my son Noah to save the goal or to ask the referee to look at what just happened, and she was devout come rain or shine. 

I remember when she took me to see her daughter Georgie playing tennis with much older players at a tournament in Jersey. She was leaning over the balcony shouting words of encouragement to Georgie while all the other parents were quietly just watching and zoning out a bit. She stood out, but she didn't care—she was always on the side of fairness, no matter whose side it fell on. She was a really fair teammate/ parent/ sidekick.

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Lou told me of her dream to be a triathlete one day, months after giving birth to her fourth child—that in itself speaks volumes about her dedication to being a role model for her kids and allowing them to see how sports is such a focus of her life passions.

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What do you think Louise would think about the LouLou Race Foundation as her legacy?

I know Lou would be proud to know her name was attached to helping someone less lucky to achieve the highs that sports can enhance in life. To be part of making someone's journey to excellence possible is all Louise wanted. I know enriching and supporting those who may not have had the opportunities she had was important to her.