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Mar. 31st, 2009
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Mar. 31st, 2009 10:14 pmAunt Marian's memorial was held in the church in the New Forest where she was a regular attender. The lady vicar of the parish was the one who'd officiated at her funeral. She began the proceedings with a few words of welcome - quite a few of the parishioners had joined us - then we had all the same speeches that we'd had at the funeral, though a couple of the people who made them couldn't make it today so Uncle Hector read theirs out. We had her three favourite hymns - All Things Bright And Beautiful, The Lord's My Shepherd and a new happy-clappy one I didn't know.
At the end we went out into the churchyard to bury Aunt Marian's ashes. The vicar had to keep us waiting because all the congregation came over to join us. It was very moving. My poor cousin Lil was in tears through most of that part of the ceremony. After the casket was lowered into the hole Lil laid a red rose down next to it. Then we all drifted back into the church for tea and biscuits.
When the friends and parishioners had dispersed, all us family went back to Uncle Hector's and we all spent a couple of hours sitting around and chatting - about our memories of Aunt Marian and how people were coping some of the time, but we also caught up on each other's news, and a casual remark of my cousin Rob's about music led to my mother asking everyone what the first record they bought was. When I said mine was 99 Red Balloons by Nena, Uncle Ron remarked that that had been voted one of the worst records of all time in a recent poll. Lil confirmed to us all that she and Pete are definitely not getting back together, and he's moving out of her flat - that surprised me, as he'd been cuddling her rather intimately during the service earlier - but from what she said about how he's been lately, she's making the right decision.
Around 7.15 people talked about making tracks. After offering a few last consoling words and hugs or handshakes to Uncle Hector, Rob and Lil, we left them to their plans of going out for Chinese and Indian takeaways, and all looked forward to a time when we'll all meet again under happier circumstances.
At the end we went out into the churchyard to bury Aunt Marian's ashes. The vicar had to keep us waiting because all the congregation came over to join us. It was very moving. My poor cousin Lil was in tears through most of that part of the ceremony. After the casket was lowered into the hole Lil laid a red rose down next to it. Then we all drifted back into the church for tea and biscuits.
When the friends and parishioners had dispersed, all us family went back to Uncle Hector's and we all spent a couple of hours sitting around and chatting - about our memories of Aunt Marian and how people were coping some of the time, but we also caught up on each other's news, and a casual remark of my cousin Rob's about music led to my mother asking everyone what the first record they bought was. When I said mine was 99 Red Balloons by Nena, Uncle Ron remarked that that had been voted one of the worst records of all time in a recent poll. Lil confirmed to us all that she and Pete are definitely not getting back together, and he's moving out of her flat - that surprised me, as he'd been cuddling her rather intimately during the service earlier - but from what she said about how he's been lately, she's making the right decision.
Around 7.15 people talked about making tracks. After offering a few last consoling words and hugs or handshakes to Uncle Hector, Rob and Lil, we left them to their plans of going out for Chinese and Indian takeaways, and all looked forward to a time when we'll all meet again under happier circumstances.
