An emotional day

After a leisurely start we went to the funeral of our sister-in-law - Professor Judith (Judy) Baxter. She was the wife of my wife’s elder brother and despite living at different ends of the country we would meet up and they and their family would be regular visitors at Christmas and family gatherings. We last got together at the family wedding last June of their elder daughter - blip of 20 May.

It was a great day. The news of her sudden passing the other weekend was therefore such a shock. She was just 6 months older than me and yesterday would have been her birthday.

Today’s ceremony was moving and emotional with various tributes from family and colleagues from Aston University. There was laughter too as we remembered the happy times but that did not outweigh the grief and loss. A montage of photos reminded us of many shared events - see extra - and an evening gathering at her sister’s after a tortuous crawl through traffic to their home gave us the opportunity to relive memories together.

Immediately after the ceremony we had gathered at a village pub in Playhatch not far from the Crematorium. As we headed in from the car park the flower urns in the pub garden - no doubt meant to provide some ambiance - seemed to radiate our sense of loss.