The Vicar of Bray . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . officiated today at the funeral of my 3rd cousin Neal. He was 68. We shared a great-grandfather. He'd spent his life in the betting and racing world and the lovely 13th century church in Bray, Berkshire, was packed to the rafters with his friends, two or three hundred of them, with only a couple of dozen family, including his 93 year old father. I've never seen a church so full!

We joined the crowd briefly for food and drink down the road in a local hostelry and then left them to it. Bray is a beautiful and historic village, now the home of the rich and famous, situated close to the Thames near Maidenhead.