Sir: I shall not forget the refusal, when my mother
died, of the vicar of her parish church (Ludham, Norfolk) to use the funeral service from the Book of Common Prayer, although he did finally agree to speak those poignant words from it that are pronounced over the grave. Undertakers and vicar refused point blank to consider the suggestion that members of the family carry the coffin, which we wanted to do.
Subsequently we commissioned a very traditional headstone from the disting- uished letter cutter, Michael Harvey; the design was rejected by the authorities and only after some correspondence with Nor- wich was some canon found who could recognise its quality.
At the funeral service the interior of Ludham Church, a fine East Anglia gothic church with a rare surviving painted rood screen, was made hideous by two enor- mous bright orange gas cylinders which provided the anyway inadequate heating system.
I am still angry three years after the event.
Simon Wilson
9 Loxley Road, London SW18
Previous page
