Sad Memories

In the last two months I have had phone and e-mail contact with a couple of people who had friends or relatives buried in our Christian Cemetery. The first was from Colin Waite whose best friend from his teens – Private Brian Holroyd died in 1959. I took a photo of Brian’s grave and suggested that he might consider a visit during the Remembrance Week. He has taken up the suggestion, will be staying with a member of the congregation and we are trying to organize a programme for him. The second was from the niece of the parents of Sophie Botham, who died as a baby here in 1961. Again I took a photo of the grave and forwarded it on to the niece who responded: you will never know how much this means to me, and to my Aunt and Uncle. My Aunt was in tears when she rang me to say she’d received the email. It’s a reminder of how loss in our past can continue to have an impact late into our lives and of the importance facing up to that loss in order to experience at least a measure of healing.