25th   A sad but strange week in that I have three funerals – The first being a humanist funeral of a close neighbour held in the Chapel at Wetheral Cemetery, Ashgate Lane, Wetheral.   It was a small funeral attended by close neighbours, friends and family with the internment in the Woodland part of the cemetery.

26th   The second funeral was at St Mary’s Church, Wreay, a small village on the South side of the city.   The church was designed and paid for by a local resident Sarah Losh and is unusual in design.   The funeral was for a past client and also the provider of weekly fresh eggs to my home for many years.   He was an officer in the Scot’s Guards and I was piped in by the regimental piper.   I arrived early by half an hour to find that there was already some 100 friends, neighbours and military personnel within the church.   There was a portico at the West end of the church and loud speakers for those who were unable to get a seat.   Luckily the weather was kind a bright sunny day with the wake in the local village hall.

28th   The third funeral of the week was for a good friend and colleague being the current president of Probus and having been a fellow Parish Councillor for 20 years only retiring from Wetheral Parish Council in 2016.   He was a Lay-reader at Wetheral’s Holy Trinity and St. Constantine’s Church as well as a very popular contributor to the Church Magazine the “Focus on Eden”.   I arrived one hour prior to the service at 1 p.m. and there were some 200 mourners.   He represented Cumbria at the Church of England Synod and at his funeral there were a large number of clerics from vicars, priests, missioners, archdeacons and bishops; with the service being conducted by the Archdeacon of West Cumberland, the Venerable Richard Pratt and the readings and prayers by other clergy.   The internment was held at St, Leonard’s Warwick-on-Eden with the wake at the local Crown Hotel, Wetheral.   Prior to the funeral I attended a meeting of the Finance, Health & Safety and Buildings committee at Scotby Junior School at 9.15 a.m.   Members noted the financial End of Year report and the update of SEND funding.   Governor’s Competencies  forms were completed and returned.   Discussion then took place regarding inflationary rises for school meals, uniforms and after-school clubs and decisions made.   Further consultations are being made regarding buildings and classrooms- issues and plans.   Finally at 10.15 a.m. we were joined by three members of the local police force to discuss the parking problem on Park Road, Scotby at early morning and late afternoon when school is in progress.   Being Heath & Safety Governor I have been in correspondence with the police for some time regarding this issue and at last I think that the other members of the committee have been persuaded to take the police advice and to place No Parking Police Signs early morning and mid-afternoon to solve the problem.   Now we have to find the person who is going to be responsible to carry out this procedure every day in term time.