Sorry that the blog has been very quiet but we have had a very difficult few weeks. Paul’s Mum Joan was taken ill very suddenly on 12 June and rushed into hospital. Seriosly ill she was then transferred to the Intensive care unit at the Freeman hospital in Newcastle, but she never regained conciousness. Sadly in the early evening of Wednesday 18 June, Joan passed away. The funeral was last Friday and I found it a sad, but unlifting experience as we celebrated her life.
We met at Lowther Church for the service (click on this link to read the poem Paul read out at the service, that he and Helen Beetham wrote specially)
Paul, Ray and I went back on Sunday for a walk and to take some photos.
This is a beautiful little church in the middle of the Lowther estate (where the carriage driving competition is held the first week of August).
Here are some thumbnail pictures; one of the river Lowther that runs below the Church, where Joan saw her first Kingfisher, and the other shows a view of the walk beside the river.
Joan was laid to rest in the woodland and meadow area at Penrith Cemetery. She wanted a “green funeral” so her casket was made of wicker and garlanded with english garden and woodland flowers. The views from the meadow look across Saddleback and other Lakeland mountains that Joan knew and loved so well.