A sad day
We said goodbye to our Zoe/probodie last Tuesday.
The service was held at Barnsley Crematorium, a quiet and peaceful place in a leafy setting. It was a humanist service, and the officiant had obviously taken great pains in her preparations. She spoke about Zoe's life; her family, her interests, her career, her love for Mike... She raised a smile or two with some funny stories, and quite a few tears as well. Her words summed up Zoe's personality so well that several of us there assumed that she must have known her, but we later found out that that wasn't the case at all.
The biggest smile of all (and the most tears, in my case) came at the end, when we filed out of the chapel - to the strains of Morecambe and Wise singing 'Bring Me Sunshine'.
After the service Zoe's friends and family gathered at a small pub not very far away, where Zoe had once worked when she was younger. It was a bittersweet gathering, not all sad I have to say as so many of us have happy memories of Zoe that we were keen to share with each other. As well as family and work colleagues there were friends there representing all aspects of Zoe's many interests - friends from Pros fandom, fellow Cult TV attendees, members of Zoe's Bay City Rollers 'gang' from years gone by... Not only BCR fans, I hasten to add, but an actual Bay City Roller too! Zoe would have been gobsmacked!
I've just read through this again before I post it, and I realise that my first sentence is incorrect. We'll never say goodbye to Zoe. She'll always be with us.
The service was held at Barnsley Crematorium, a quiet and peaceful place in a leafy setting. It was a humanist service, and the officiant had obviously taken great pains in her preparations. She spoke about Zoe's life; her family, her interests, her career, her love for Mike... She raised a smile or two with some funny stories, and quite a few tears as well. Her words summed up Zoe's personality so well that several of us there assumed that she must have known her, but we later found out that that wasn't the case at all.
The biggest smile of all (and the most tears, in my case) came at the end, when we filed out of the chapel - to the strains of Morecambe and Wise singing 'Bring Me Sunshine'.
After the service Zoe's friends and family gathered at a small pub not very far away, where Zoe had once worked when she was younger. It was a bittersweet gathering, not all sad I have to say as so many of us have happy memories of Zoe that we were keen to share with each other. As well as family and work colleagues there were friends there representing all aspects of Zoe's many interests - friends from Pros fandom, fellow Cult TV attendees, members of Zoe's Bay City Rollers 'gang' from years gone by... Not only BCR fans, I hasten to add, but an actual Bay City Roller too! Zoe would have been gobsmacked!
I've just read through this again before I post it, and I realise that my first sentence is incorrect. We'll never say goodbye to Zoe. She'll always be with us.