Dad’s funeral 
7
Today was the day and, if such a thing is possible, it was a good funeral. There were tears and heartache but I think we did him proud.
He had a thing with trees and made a habit of planting many in his lifetime (not least of all a patch of about 50 Norwegian spruce/Christmas trees in his and Mum’s back garden) so we picked a coffin made out of willow. I know “traditional” coffins are wood anyway but it seemed more appropriate to have something more natural, i.e. not cut, planed, treated, carved, varnished etc. but simply pruned and weaved together - someone mentioned that had Dad been there he’d have probably made some joke about it being a laundry basket …
We had four pieces of music during the service, three of which were favourites of Dad’s:
- “I’ll Find My Way Home” by Jon & Vangelis for when we went in;
- “Silver Wings” by Mike Rowland for the “quiet time for reflection”;
- “Nimrod” by Edward Elgar for the committal;
- “Tuba Smarties” by Sky for when we exited;
I chose the last one because it’s a slightly upbeat, almost jokey track that Dad loved and played loads when I was a kid, but at the last minute I had a mild panic attack that the others would think it was inappropriate - I needn’t have worried because they said it was the perfect ending and exactly what he would’ve wanted … and that nearly made me cry!
Two great friends, both of whom are named Sue, helped with the transport - Sue P drove me and N in a friend’s wheelchair accessible van and Sue Horne drove Mum and a couple of others.
After the service we all went to The Holt Fleet Inn (see the bottom of this page) in Holt Heath, drank and stuffed our faces … it’s what Dad would’ve wanted us to do!
#1 Grix said:
:D I’ve noticed funerals are time for laughing as much as crying, just remembering and such.
Glad it went well.
on 19 October ‘06 
#2 Timmargh said:
Cheers matey.
on 19 October ‘06
#3 charlesdawson said:
Glad it went OK for you all. Ritual is a very important part of saying goodbye, whether it’s secular or religious. Even the Neanderthals seem to have put flowers on the graves of their dead.
on 20 October ‘06
#4 Agent Fang said:
There’s certainly such a thing as a good funeral - glad you felt it was. It’s a way of showing your love as well as everything else.
I’ve never heard of that Tuba Smarties tune - methinks I’ve been missing out…
X
on 21 October ‘06
#5 SP said:
Glad to hear things went well for you, Tim.
on 22 October ‘06
#6 Andyk said:
Good work dude. A good funeral is the best way to say goodbye to a loved one.
on 22 October ‘06
The conversation is closed