CAN YOU GUESS WHERE WE'VE BEEN TODAY?

I doubt there will be many who could even hazard a guess as to where Mr. HCB and I have been today by looking at the photograph above.

We heard with sadness on New Year’s Day that our friend, Howard’s father had died in the early hours of the morning.  The funeral was planned for today in Gloucester, where his parents lived;  we didn’t tell our friends we would be there, but thought we would surprise them and we did!  

We used the satnav and got there in plenty of time just after 11 a.m. for a 12 noon service, but by the time we got into the church, it was almost full with men in their best suits and women, mostly in dark clothes and some, mostly the older ones, wearing wonderful hats.

It was lovely to see first Kathryn’s and then Lillieth’s face as they walked down the aisle of the church, behind the coffin, and spotted us in the congregation.

It was a long service in the Jamaican tradition, with several hymns, prayers and readings, a solo sung by an elderly relative and two lovely songs by a group.  Tributes were paid to Mr. James, as he was respectfully called - using Mr. before his Christian name of James.  We were told later that many years ago, all children had to call people either Mr, Miss or Mrs as a sign of respect and the lady who was telling us says she still does it to this day.  The singing was wonderful, the sermon powerful and after almost two hours, we thought that was it.

However, on speaking to Lillieth, Howard’s wife, outside the church, she said that they now went to the cemetery for the interment where they sang at the graveside as the coffin was lowered into the ground.  I can’t remember the last time we went to a burial, so we were surprised to see, when we arrived, that there was a huge pile of earth by the side of the grave.  The coffin was lowered in and once the formalities had been completed and prayers said, the men of the family began to shovel the earth back into the ground on top of the coffin - and not only the men!  I have put a collage in as an extra and you will see that at the top right, even our friend’s daughter, Kathryn, had rolled up her trousers and got stuck in - literally - with Dad standing by her side giving her instructions.  You can also see her brother, Aaron, helping Howard, in the middle right photograph.

At the bottom left is Andrew, Howard’s brother, and you can see his immaculate suit - and it’s his boots that are in the main photograph of my Blip, with the feet of the official grave digger just above him - who was obviously dressed suitably and was wearing gloves, something the men of the family didn’t have!

We sang a variety of songs, including Shall We Gather at the River?, Amazing Grace,  When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, God Be With You Till We Meet Again and many more - and there was almost a party atmosphere at the graveside with Mr. James’ widow, Margaret, who is 90 years old later this year, standing and singing for almost two hours.  

What amazed us was the way, once all the earth had been put back into the grave, the flowers weren’t just “plonked” on the top, but each bouquet was taken apart and the flowers were pressed upright into the soft earth, which made a wonderful sight, as you can see in the middle photograph.

Whilst I was taking photographs, and Lillieth said it was fine to do that, and many others were doing the same, I was chatting to people - well you can’t just walk past them without saying anything, can you?

We were then invited back to the wake at a local hotel where delicious West Indian food was served, more tributes given and music played - not too loud though, so that the 150 guests could chat together - it was obvious from the general hubbub in the room that many of the family members hadn’t seen each other for quite some time.  

Thank you Howard and Lillieth for including us in your family celebration in memory of Howard’s father, Mr. James - we didn’t actually meet him, but felt as if we knew him, after hearing all the tributes to this wise and humble man - may he rest in peace.

It was interesting that in our Bible Reading this morning before we went, the verses were from Job 1 : 21:

“The Lord gave 
     and the Lord has taken away;
          may the name of the Lord 
               be praised.”
 
The Lord’s name was definitely praised in many ways and we were privileged to be a part of it today - we were so blessed that the sun shone and it didn't rain - the soil was claggy enough as it was, so you can imagine how awful it would have been if it rained!