I have had a very frustrating time, trying to get this post published successfully, following a long and uncomfortable silence while I could not even log in to my own blog which – apparently, so I was informed – had been deleted…
…Not deleted by me, nor in fact by anybody, but it was a rather helpless feeling, like being shut out of one’s own house, without even the means of breaking in. The problem was finally half resolved although not explained by the website hosts. So here I am, hopefully permanently undeleted and linked up again, for a brief and long overdue catch-up.
Most importantly, we went down to Devon last week on a two-fold mission: to be with my brother John for a few days after his (third) eye operation and to attend Alice Mason’s Memorial Service in Ringmore. This is the village where Alice lived all her life until in her mid-90s she went to live with her daughter and son-in-law in Kent. It is also where my parents lived after they retired, and where Alice soon became an important part of our lives.
The service was in the village church, All Hallows, where Alice played for both John’s and my wedding and also our daughter Sara’s wedding to Derek 34 years later.
Incidentally, Barnford, pictured here on the left and our family home for 40 years, is almost opposite the church, just to the left of the bus shelter.
My parents are both buried in the graveyard, overlooking Barnford and the sea in the distance – there can’t be many more beautiful settings for one’s final resting place.
I was very touched to be asked to give one of the tributes to Alice, (standing at the lectern my father had presented to the church in memory of my mother). There was a very sensible 1xA4 page limit- she had so many attributes and such an interesting life it would have been easy to get carried away.
Another link with the past gone, but we won’t forget her, and of course her family lives on. And so many links remain in the village of Ringmore, with friends made there very many moons ago and with whom one can immediately link up again without any sense of time lapse.
That isn’t Barnford in the photo, is it? It looks like the house very near the Journey’s End to which Tim sent a link a link a year or two ago.
John, it is now! The ‘fake’ Barnford photo had somehow sneaked into my photo gallery, and I had not noticed – distracted possibly by all the technical problems i had been experiencing!
Lovely
Thank you darling. It would have been lovely if you’d been there. There were lots of familiar friends faces about, and we had a particularly good bowl of soup in the Journey’s End beforehand!
Thanks Marion. So beautifully written. Love Tim
Thank you Tim. It was so good you and Chris could come to Alice’s funeral, but you would have loved the service in Ringmore too. We had a good chat with the current owner of Barnford over the gate into the paddock, and a nice lunch in the Journey’s End beforehand. No time to go down to Aylmer Cove, unfortunately.
Ah yes, that’s certainly Barnford now! I didn’t thank you for the blog, which is much more important, and which I do now. What a lovely picture of Alice, exactly catching the way she leant forward to attend to the person she was with. We were lucky to have known her and I’m very sorry not to have been at the memorial.
Thank you, John. I’m glad you spotted the problem. I was so preoccupied with the ongoing technological nightmares I hadn’t noticed. It’s a lovely photo of Alice, isn’t it, taken by John at the home where she was. She was always so interested in everyone, and gave them her full attention, as you can see in the photo you mention. It was such a pity you weren’t fit enough to come to her memorial service but I hope we represented you and all the other reluctantly absent family members well!
Thank you, John. I’m glad you spotted the problem. It’s a lovely photo of Alice, isn’t it, taken by John at the home where she was. She was always so interested in everyone, and gave them her full attention, as you can see in the photo.
It was such a pity you weren’t fit enough to come to her memorial service but I hope we represented you and all the other reluctantly absent family members well!