Peter's Memorial Service and Wake

Poor Freyja had a right palaver getting from her place to Chesterfield Station on Friday morning.

She got to the bus stop, boarded the bus – and then remembered that she had spent her bus money the previous evening.

She got off the bus and went to the cash point.

She got on a new bus, only to discover that the ticket machine was broken and the driver was hand-writing tickets and was taking *forever*.

There was lots of traffic.

Two babies decided to enter a crying competition.

The bloke sat behind Freyja sighed and tutted and tapped his feet with impatience.

Eventually, finally and at last, Freyja reached the station, bought a ticket and legged it for the train.

Only to discover once she had boarded that the ticket had not boarded with her :-S Fortunately, the train conductor only charged her for a replacement ticket and not the £20 fine for travelling without a ticket.

But eventually, she arrived in Chesterfield, we collected her and off we all trundled to Girton, via lunch at Tabitha and Gareth’s place in Cambridge. We had a remarkably good trip down, and especially so when you consider the difficulty Freyja had just getting from Sheffield to Chesterfield!



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Peter’s memorial service was in the church in Girton and it was very well attended. The central part of the church was full and there were even people in the side aisles. Joan and all the children were there, as were Steve and Jill but not, this time, Nic. Also present were all the grandchildren except for Emilie who was on a training course in France which she hopes will lead to a career at sea. But Clement had come, along with his mother Pat. (Emilie and Clement are Andy-the-missing-cousin’s offspring and Pat is his ex-wife. They all live in France, I *think* near Toulouse). Jane, Ruth and Paul and Carol were there. There were lots of people from Churchfield Court, where Peter and Joan have lived for the last 10 or so years. Jerry delivered a lovely eulogy. One of Peter and Joan’s Rotary Scholars, Tom, had come over for the weekend with his wife from The States to deliver a speech. We sang hymns and said prayers and listened to some of Peter’s favourite sacred music. I think he would have been pleased.

Then we all repaired to the church hall for a proper wake, with champagne and wine and orange juice and sandwiches and munchy things and cakes and pastries. We toasted Peter on his way. We mentioned Tony in despatches and wished him a happy birthday (Oooo, said Jerry. Let’s pop a cork for Tony’s birthday. So he did – and champagne went EVERYWHERE!!!). We listened to Delius and admired a powerpoint photo display that James and Dominic had put together. There were balloons. And lots of people milling about and making conversation.

I had a nice chat with Clem in his broken English and my broken French. He’s an apprentice plumber and approaching his final exams. We chatted to Pat and to the cousins. We played with the children – and the children played with the games on my iPhone! It was a really lovely afternoon. I hope Peter thinks that we sent him onwards in appropriate style. Joan went home for a rest shortly before 6. She and the rest of the family were gathering later for dinner and I think she was getting a bit tired. And who can blame her.

We went back to Tabitha and Gareth’s place via Tabitha’s Sainsbury’s, and feasted on various flavoured ravioli and a sauce I made with super-light philli cheese and a tomato pasta sauce.

It transpires that at the Memorial Service and the wake was a cousin of Tony’s. At least, the son of a cousin of Tony’s. And Peter’s, of course. Dave. He had been in regular contact with Peter. I don’t know if he was in regular contact with Tony. But he had noted that it was Tony’s birthday (hard to have missed that piece of information given the champagne splashing about!). He hadn’t realised that there were any Tony Representatives at the do until after we had gone (though he must have been amongst the very last of the guests to leave – we were not hasty in our departure). So he emailed Tony birthday greetings and the comment that he was sorry not to have seen us. Tony emailed him back, copying me in. And I’ve now had an email from the distant cousin. He lives in Chester. Might tie in a visit to meet him and his family with a visit to Ruth and Andy, who also live in Chester and who were also copied into the email conversation.