From our Sunday School Days (Lift up our hearts)

Hi all YOUR MUMS (special day tomorrow) I have posted so much about mine in my posts, but would anyone like to share about yours on here. We might be ordinary Coventry people, but our mums were very special to us.

Hello Philip, You know we cannot choose our parents but if I could I would have chosen my Mum a million times over and my Mum in law coming in second, and thank you for giving me the chance to state that.

My mum was one in a million and I miss her every day. A very placid, quietly spoken lady, with never a bad word to say about anyone and always ready to help a neighbour in need. She had a very hard life, losing her first husband when my half brother was only a toddler. She met my dad when she was working behind the bar in the Howitzers Club. After marrying my father she gave birth to four more children, including me. She never had a lot of time to play with us, as we were all born within two years of each other. Growing up in Hillfields was a happy time for me, but very hard work for my mum, to keep us all clean, fed and clothed. We have it so easy now compared to those days. Happy Mothers day to all mums here and departed, hope you all get spoilt, I know I will be.

Isn't it wonderful being a Mum Mayjan?

It sure is Dreamtime...and a Nan and Great Nan. Happy Mothers Day to you x

Oh, you are one up on me then I am only a Great nan, one 23 and one 14 so there is plenty of time for me yet. Have a lovely day ladies, watch the chocs.

Hi all Please don't give up telling about your mums. Those mums on here, please have a lovely day, pampered by your children, grandchildren & great grandchildren. If you are not a mum, you may have been a stand-in. Pam's sister is not a mum, but she has cared for our grandchildren many hours each week for a decade. I bet the pubs are doing well for todays lunches. Last year, when we were still in a drought & the temperatures on this day last year were 14+, Pam & I called in to an almost deserted McDonalds, after seeing the pub car parks full everywhere. There's a thought!

Hi all, Today is a very sad day, as Pam & I attend the funeral of Gordon Malpass (MBE). For many years he was involved with our motor industry management, but also as a church leader, here in Holbrooks.

I knew Gordon very well I had no idea he'd passed on. (Total shock!) RIP Gordon.

Hi all Another sad day today where Pam & I are attending (I am organist) another funeral service in remembrance for ninety one year old church member. Pam knew the lady well as she was also a surgery patient for many years. As a church organist for over forty years, playing for funerals was part of the duty as an organist, just as playing for any other event, wedding or choir presentation & so on, was just a normality. At this point I wish to state my gratitude to Courtaulds Engineering Ltd, who always gave me totally free access, no matter what to perform that duty during normal working time. Two things have change though for me in the last fifteen years. One is that my unreliable eyesight makes each play event more of a task, so I need far more forward preparation, but the other change, probably more important is that each funeral that I play for becomes entrenched deeply into my own mind like never before, just as though I am directly related. I am no longer detached in the sense that "It is just another funeral service" as I was actually taught to be, in just the same way that a medic needs to be detached when administering treatment to a patient. You know, "we are above it kind of thing". Maybe it's me getting old. When I was younger, my thoughts were that funerals were always for older people. How false a thought, as over the years it has been my sad duty to play for sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, husbands & wives. Not just grandmas & uncles. I am moved, knowing that this is being read by members on here who know exactly what I am saying, as they have experienced the grief & sometimes continue to do so. Few ever forget.

Heartfelt and extremely thoughtful words Philip, thank you for sharing.

Hi all Hope that you enjoy this story. Derek the oldest milkman in the West (Midlands)

Hi all Upon visiting Walsgrave hospital today, I have learnt of the loss of Frank Miller. I am not sure of his age, but he had been a volunteer worker at Walsgrave hospital for yonks'. I knew him first from when I had a school-holiday job at the G.E.C. in Stoke, 1962/3. He was my supervisor, being in charge of the Transmission Stores Records. He must have liked me as he had me back working with him several times. His funeral is at 1pm, Tuesday 4th August at the crematorium. I hope to be there.

Hi all I have just returned from Frank's funeral service at the crem chapel. It was packed. Frank had served as a hospital volunteer for as long as he had worked at the GEC. Over forty years at both. It was & is an honour for me to have known him. He was born in 1931, suffered a serious child illness which left him with severe curvature of the spine. That did not stop his enthusiasm to live his own life to the full, always on the go, helping others like the Enterprise, for the disabled in Avon St. It was following a serious illness around 1978 time, that he dedicated his volunteering towards Walsgrave hospital in addition to his other cares. It's a nice Viscount organ in the chapel, which I enjoyed playing. I am sure Frank would have enjoyed it too as he was an organ enthusiast, sometimes turning up at venues that I was playing at. Them wert' days.

What a blessing it is to have such people on this earth Philip, these silent achievers who come and go and bring such joy and care to others. The world is all a better place for having had these people in the lives of those in need. You must have felt very proud to have been at that gentleman's funeral sevice, good on you.