A Good Send Off

Everyone is up early today getting ready to head to Cardiff for my Nan's funeral. I've got a number of things to do before I can get ready though, those being nipping to my parents office to drop some work off for Dad's secretary, and then going to the car wash to zip the car through to make it half presentable for the funeral procession.

With those jobs done I then get myself ready, and by 11 we are leaving the house - by 1 we are in Cardiff and stop of for a drink before we go to the Funeral Home.

By 2 pm we are meeting up with the family at the Funeral Home. There are lots of people that I've not seen for years and years (mostly cousins) and it was interesting to see that most of them haven't changed much at all.

The flowers for the funeral were fantastic, including one made up to look like a Whisky Mac (a mixture of scotch whisky and green ginger wine) which was one of my Nan's favourite drinks (along with a good G & T).

After a short time we all head off to the Crematorium where even more people have gathered for the service, including some of my parents friends from Lincolnshire and Sylvia - a good friend of mine and my parents whom I haven't seen in what feels like a year.

The service was quite emotional, but not conventional! (Well, nothing the Coopers ever do is! :)) We had Tom Jones' Green Green Grass of Home playing when everyone was waiting for the service to start (one of Nan's favourites) and after some brief words from the Priest, Uncle Robert did a speech all about Nan's early days, and then my Dad did a speech too. And a funny one at that - something to lighten the mood, and something that Nan would have laughed at and no doubt found very appropriate for the day. It certainly raised plenty of giggles from the congregation. At the end of the service we played another of Nan's favourite songs, Tina Turner's Simply The Best, which I'm afraid was the breaking point for me. I'd managed to keep back the tears until then, but hearing that song opened the flood gates for me.

After the service we then headed to a small pub near Llandaff Cathedral where everyone had plenty of time to reminisce about the old times. We'd also put together a colliage of photos of Nan for years ago and more recent ones which were great, and fascinating to see all together.

I guess what I'll remember most about my Nan is that she wasn't your typical grand parent. She was feisty, young at heart and had a wicked sense of humour. She was a card sharp, you could never beat her at a game of rummy and she could cook the best pasti, sausage rolls, sponges and chips you'd ever taste. She never went out without her Slap (makeup) on and took pride in how she looked and how others thought of her.

She had a hard life, but lived it well and I can only hope that if and when I become a grandparent, I can offer some of what she gave me back to my grandchildren.

R.I.P. Elizabeth Hetty Cooper 1925 ~ 2005

Posted by Abi on the September 12, 2005 10:29 PM