A Sad Day in Lincolnshire - Mandy Weller, RIP

A very sad day today indeed.  We were up early this morning, 5.30 a.m., as we had a long journey up to Grimsby (260 miles) to attend our cousin’s funeral at 2 p.m.  Fortunately, everybody woke early and we were on the road by 6.45 a.m.  We had a really good journey up although we did hear on the radio that there had been a major accident on the A34 about half an hour behind us which closed our route for nearly 10 hours!  So glad we had the foresight to leave a little bit earlier than planned.  We arrived at Mum’s at 12 noon and after an hour with her we drove to Holton-le-Clay Parish Church for the funeral.  Although we arrived some 45 minutes ahead of the cortege, the church was already substantially full.  Mum was able to sit in the seats in the choir but Sara and I were pressed up against the back wall of the church as more and more people arrived.  A really small church with what must have been over 200 people attending.  My cousin, Mandy, was only 37 years old with two lovely young children aged 6 and 9 and her husband has kidney problems.  Quite a sad and sombre service with adults dressed in black.  The family looked devastated.  We had an unusual reading from Joshua - the point where Joshua takes over from Moses - a new beginning.  The theme worked well and I would like to read it again.  After the service we attended the wake at Cleethorpes Cricket Club where Mum, Sara, Mary and I sat with my Aunt Ivy and my other cousin, Elaine.  We stayed for about two hours or so.  There was a lovely part of the wake where the young children let off blue helium-filled balloon,s  with messages attached to them, into the air and we watched as they floated out over the Humber Estuary and, eventually over the North Sea.   Quite a tearful moment.  This evening we took Mum for a birthday dinner at the Jug & Bottle (back in Holton-le-Clay) after which we dropped her off at the Cleethorpes Conservative Club for her bingo night.  Back at Mum's, Sara went to bed early and Mary and I watched a documentary about the training of Catholic priests.  An interesting parallel with the training for Anglican ministry.  After picking up Mum from the Cleethorpes Conservative Club,  she and I watched Question Night on TV whilst drinking a cup of hot chocolate.  went to bed tonight exhausted both physically and emotionally.