A few more church yard pics, and odds and ends...
When I posted the pictures of Bride Old Church Yard earlier this week I commented that I had also taken some in the newer part of the graveyard. The original churchyard runs east from the sanctuary end of the church, the newer one is basically the width of a small field running along the north side of both church and old churchyard.
So, under the cut are a
First - this is a picture of the church, sitting in the centre of the village -
And these are Bride Roses - the village celebrated the centenary of having their own commissioners (tiny local council) in 1995, by having a rose bred and named for the village. They are, not surprisingly, popular as wedding gifts! But these are the original Bride roses, growing against the south wall of the church.
Now - an over view of the new churchyard - the stones a little more upright than those in the old burial ground!
Now - a few simply for interest - firstly a rather romantic angel -
And this is the headstone on a grave very near my grandparents -
I presume he was a submariner. The odd colour effect is because most of the headstone is reflecting the grass of the grave. Many of the graves are simply grassed over - it keeps them neat.
This one is interesting because it has an inscription in Manx as well as English -
The Manx actually just means in 'In loving memory of...' and 'rest easy' - the equivalent of the English Rest in Peace.
Actually they are relatives - but only as understood by the Manx, or hobbits; my great-great-grandmother Howland was a Kneale, and these are the same family - Charles Kneale was my great-grandmothers first cousin.
The family on this headstone are the family that my mother's cousin, my aunty Phyllis, married into - but this is here more because of the names of the children who died in infancy -
The children who died in infancy would have been my Uncle Willy's brother and sisters. Uncle Willy, alongside Aunty Phyllis herself is buried here -
Along with my great-grandparents (her grandparents), their unmarried son and only daughter (Aunty Phyll's mother).
I visited that grave regularly as a child - although then it contained only my great-grandparents. But it was the one next to it that always caught my eye. It now contains the third son of those great-grandparents (i.e. my great-uncle...), his wife and daughter, and a son in law. But when I was a child only Lily was buried there. Her inscription has not been changed - just put onto the new stone chosen when her mother died.
Lily was 10 when she died - her death is one of my mother's earliest memories (she was 3). Lily's parents were part of a group who had been part of the Plymouth Brethren, but had left to form a stricter group - feeling that the Brethren were a bit too lax! When Lily took ill her parents held prayer vigils with other members of their sect over her. When her father eventually called a doctor it was too late - she died of peritonitis from a burst appendix. These days her parents would probably be taken to court - but then it was their right to decide on her treatment, and if they chose to do nothing it was accepted - many other families might have left it too late because they couldn't afford a doctor in those, pre-NHS, days, and so it was not unusual. Personally I believe God would not have given us knowledge if He hadn't wanted us to use it.
But - anyway - Lily's inscription says 'Absent from the body. Present with the Lord'. As a child I thought it meant she had gone mad! Wilfred, her father, just has 'called home' - but then MY daughter, on family visits to the churchyard, is of the generation that immediately went - "So who did he call? Was it his Mum? Or was it like in ET?"
I have to admit that my mother, D-d, and I also find Lily's mother's inscription amusing too -
It says 'With Christ. Which is far better.' we always seem to want to know 'than what?' - also D-d said it sounded like a supermarket advert - and she's right!
And finally, as I've gathered a few relatives together here, this is my grandparents, uncle and aunt -
I feel a bit guilty that there are no flowers on the grave - I think I will plant some pansies.
Speaking of my daughter, as I was under the cut, she is home from her trip to Amsterdam. Oh how much I love our daughter! Well, you know that, but I just love her take on life so much. As well as the usual description of the hostel they stayed in, the breakfasts, the chocolate waffles, and so on, were these two gems of Kat-ness.
"I held out until the last day, but when we were all out shopping I finally gave in. I said to the others to go on but I just had to go to the Amsterdam Museum - and I ran into it and stood and went 'Aaaah! Museum....' I only stayed about three hours though, then I could face shopping again."
"I did one of the things I've always, always, wanted to do! There was a Hari-Krishna procession - and they asked us to join in. And they gave Hannah some of those little tin castanets to play. And we got cards with the words on, in case we didn't know them! And we, like, processed around Amsterdam at the end of the Hare-Krishna procession! And I've always, always, wanted to just join one of them and dance through the streets chanting! It was so cool!"
Also today, apart from going to Tescos and doing some washing I have tidied the yard and written a chunk of Brotherhood. Oh, and worked out my lesson for Sunday School tomorrow - school is back, and so we are back to lessons on Sundays, too. Tomorrow might be a bit like herding cats...
So, under the cut are a
First - this is a picture of the church, sitting in the centre of the village -
And these are Bride Roses - the village celebrated the centenary of having their own commissioners (tiny local council) in 1995, by having a rose bred and named for the village. They are, not surprisingly, popular as wedding gifts! But these are the original Bride roses, growing against the south wall of the church.
Now - an over view of the new churchyard - the stones a little more upright than those in the old burial ground!
Now - a few simply for interest - firstly a rather romantic angel -
And this is the headstone on a grave very near my grandparents -
I presume he was a submariner. The odd colour effect is because most of the headstone is reflecting the grass of the grave. Many of the graves are simply grassed over - it keeps them neat.
This one is interesting because it has an inscription in Manx as well as English -
The Manx actually just means in 'In loving memory of...' and 'rest easy' - the equivalent of the English Rest in Peace.
Actually they are relatives - but only as understood by the Manx, or hobbits; my great-great-grandmother Howland was a Kneale, and these are the same family - Charles Kneale was my great-grandmothers first cousin.
The family on this headstone are the family that my mother's cousin, my aunty Phyllis, married into - but this is here more because of the names of the children who died in infancy -
The children who died in infancy would have been my Uncle Willy's brother and sisters. Uncle Willy, alongside Aunty Phyllis herself is buried here -
Along with my great-grandparents (her grandparents), their unmarried son and only daughter (Aunty Phyll's mother).
I visited that grave regularly as a child - although then it contained only my great-grandparents. But it was the one next to it that always caught my eye. It now contains the third son of those great-grandparents (i.e. my great-uncle...), his wife and daughter, and a son in law. But when I was a child only Lily was buried there. Her inscription has not been changed - just put onto the new stone chosen when her mother died.
Lily was 10 when she died - her death is one of my mother's earliest memories (she was 3). Lily's parents were part of a group who had been part of the Plymouth Brethren, but had left to form a stricter group - feeling that the Brethren were a bit too lax! When Lily took ill her parents held prayer vigils with other members of their sect over her. When her father eventually called a doctor it was too late - she died of peritonitis from a burst appendix. These days her parents would probably be taken to court - but then it was their right to decide on her treatment, and if they chose to do nothing it was accepted - many other families might have left it too late because they couldn't afford a doctor in those, pre-NHS, days, and so it was not unusual. Personally I believe God would not have given us knowledge if He hadn't wanted us to use it.
But - anyway - Lily's inscription says 'Absent from the body. Present with the Lord'. As a child I thought it meant she had gone mad! Wilfred, her father, just has 'called home' - but then MY daughter, on family visits to the churchyard, is of the generation that immediately went - "So who did he call? Was it his Mum? Or was it like in ET?"
I have to admit that my mother, D-d, and I also find Lily's mother's inscription amusing too -
It says 'With Christ. Which is far better.' we always seem to want to know 'than what?' - also D-d said it sounded like a supermarket advert - and she's right!
And finally, as I've gathered a few relatives together here, this is my grandparents, uncle and aunt -
I feel a bit guilty that there are no flowers on the grave - I think I will plant some pansies.
Speaking of my daughter, as I was under the cut, she is home from her trip to Amsterdam. Oh how much I love our daughter! Well, you know that, but I just love her take on life so much. As well as the usual description of the hostel they stayed in, the breakfasts, the chocolate waffles, and so on, were these two gems of Kat-ness.
"I held out until the last day, but when we were all out shopping I finally gave in. I said to the others to go on but I just had to go to the Amsterdam Museum - and I ran into it and stood and went 'Aaaah! Museum....' I only stayed about three hours though, then I could face shopping again."
"I did one of the things I've always, always, wanted to do! There was a Hari-Krishna procession - and they asked us to join in. And they gave Hannah some of those little tin castanets to play. And we got cards with the words on, in case we didn't know them! And we, like, processed around Amsterdam at the end of the Hare-Krishna procession! And I've always, always, wanted to just join one of them and dance through the streets chanting! It was so cool!"
Also today, apart from going to Tescos and doing some washing I have tidied the yard and written a chunk of Brotherhood. Oh, and worked out my lesson for Sunday School tomorrow - school is back, and so we are back to lessons on Sundays, too. Tomorrow might be a bit like herding cats...