Love you dad xx

It was a long, emotional day but it ran [mostly] smoothly and as planned which I'm sure dad would have appreciated.  

The service was beautiful and totally reflected dad.......humour, respect, a packed chapel with many, many friends and family who had come from far and wide to show their respect,  Some who were unable to be present in person, joined us online, a technology dad would have loved.  It's been said many, many times before, but it sure did ring true today - it's such a sad irony that the only time we get together with the wider family is at funerals. 

Some particularly poignant moments for me from beyond the service itself, were when Jenny, the funeral director, lead the cortege on foot across the busy main road with other road users stopping and waiting respectfully.........the RAF Association standard which had been lowered as a mark of respect for dad..........the drive across the grey, leafless Leicestershire countryside to the crematorium and the final call of the lone hunting horn to blow dad away at the end of the service.   

There was only ever one place we would hold his wake - his second home, the King's Arms pub in Scalford.  He's been a regular there for a good few years and was a member of the very appropriately named "Bullshit Corner" - a cosy nook where friends gathered to share stories and BS, happy times and sad times and where humour, love and respect lived happily together.  This image is of some of the members ensuring dad will continue to always have a place in this special corner.  I understand they have other plans to enshrine his legacy too.

Dad would have loved it all and I know he can rest peacefully now.  

God bless you dad xx