David Hall received a phone call
from the Daughter of the Deceased about a funeral in Southbourne, near Chichester, however, an inquest was required and there
was no firm date for the funeral at this stage. It emerged that the Deceased
had been a Van Driver but his passion was the Land Rover which he had used each
day to drive to work.
When David found out that the
main Floral Tribute was going to be a 3D Land Rover he quickly got the contact
number for the Florist, Flowers by Allison. The vintage lorry had previously
carried Floral Tributes created by Allison Hiderah over 8 years ago and by
looking back at the old file for a Waterlooville funeral David found his
contemporaneous notes, ‘quality flowers that travelled well.’
Allison was pleased to hear from
David and understood his request that three dimensional Floral Tributes should
be created on a wooden board. Allison said that her Husband would make the
stand for the Floral Tribute, however, she couldn’t make any estimate of the
width, length or height of the Land Rover Floral Tribute.
Five days before the Southbourne
funeral David still hadn’t heard anything about the 3D Land Rover Floral
Tribute, but he had to start building the support structure for the Floral
Tribute. Wanting to exceed the Family’s expectations, David decided to
customise the support structure so that the Floral Tribute would appear to be
sitting on the bonnet of a Land Rover in the position that a spare tyre was
often positioned.
On a Thursday morning David was
having a cup of coffee, reflecting that he still had no measurements of the
main Floral Tribute for the Monday Southbourne funeral, when the phone rang
about a funeral in St. Albans. In his email
that requests information about the funeral, having experienced problems with
the Southbourne funeral, David stressed to Kerry, that he required a timely
response. Within 40 minutes of sending the email David received a reply to most
of his points, which included the name of the Florist for the St.
Albans funeral. At 1600 hours David received a phone call from
Kendalls Florist and Emma informed him that the flowers would involve ‘DAD’,
‘POPS’, a Coffin Spray and the Gates of Heaven. She also provided the
measurements for each of the Floral Tributes. The Gates of Heaven is an
exquisite but delicate Floral Tribute which is hated by Funeral Directors
because there is no way to secure the Gates of Heaven in a hearse, however,
David has developed securement techniques which ensure that this Floral Tribute
is never damaged on the vintage lorry.
David couldn’t believe what had
happened. He was still in desperate need of information for a funeral in 4
days, but he already had all the information he needed for a funeral in 14
days!
Kerry, from the St. Albans
Funeral Director, was excellent, the most immediate person David as ever met in
the funeral industry. She also had an in-depth understanding of what was
required for loading the coffin and Kerry confirmed that the Leyland Beaver
would fit into their covered loading area. Kerry also checked that the vintage
lorry could park overnight within the Funeral Directors’ garage and recommended
a cost effective hotel for David nearby.
On the Friday morning David sent
an email to Flowers by Allison asking that the board beneath the Floral Tribute
should be no longer than 36 inches and no wider than 12 inches. The only
response David received was that Allison would meet him to handover the Land
Rover Floral Tribute at 0800 hours on Monday in Southbourne Farm Shop.
David always evaluates the best
route to a Funeral Directors and often there is conflict in his head with part
of him wanting to stick with the roads he knows but another part keen to
explore new areas and perhaps uncover a gem, like an unclassified former Roman
Road that has a good surface, is straight as a dye and not much traffic.
David decided to divert from his
trusted B2150 through Hambledon & Denmead and opted to go via Clanfield,
picking up the B2149 & B2148 which lead directly to Ensworth, the next
village to Southbourne. Getting away at 0430 hours, David was at the Clanfield
turn off by 0710 hours and he couldn’t believe his eyes. The main B2150 through
Hambledon was closed for night tarmac operations and if David hadn’t opted for
the Clanfield road he would have been in serious bother. David often believes
that things are meant to be.
David arrived at Southbourne Farm
Shop at 0745 hours and when Allison handed over the Floral Tribute he instantly
understood why she couldn’t provide an early indication of size. Traditionally
three dimensional Floral Tributes are made by Florists gluing blocks of oasis
together, however, Allison’s Husband had made a lifelike scaled wooden model of
the Deceased’s Land Rover which she had then covered with sheets of designer
board oasis and then added the flowers. The flowers were of secondary interest
with one’s eye immediately attracted to canvass cover, wooden wheels and
radiator grille. It was the most realistic Floral Tribute David had seen to
replicate a 4x4 vehicle.
Moores Traditional Funeral
Directors were excellent with attentive Bearers with Les Whigman, in charge who
conducted the funeral. David always asks the person travelling with him, ‘How
would you fancy sitting there for 10 hours and accompanying me on a trip to
Great Yarmouth?’ Everyone so far has declined the offer, citing too noisy, too
hot, not enough leg room, but Les Whigman said, ‘I’d love to spend 10 hours in
this seat, I love old equipment, the sounds and the smells’.
David’s lorry got a wonderful
reception in front of the Family house in Hambrook and everyone was delighted
with David’s efforts to customise the display. Two days after the funeral,
apparently the Land Rover Floral Tribute was back in the Flowers by Allison
shop, taking pride of place on a shelf with everyone remarking how wonderful it
was.
The preparations for the St. Albans funeral were straight forward with all the
information being available at the earliest stage possible. David arrived early
at the Funeral Directors and within 40 minutes the Leyland Beaver was parked
undercover and David was in his hotel and tackling a Sudoku puzzle. David had
allocated 90 minutes to wash the vintage lorry, however, the glorious sunshine
meant that the lorry had arrived in an immaculate condition.
The following day David walked to
the Funeral Directors and had a cup of tea whilst their morning meeting took
place. David was then taken to collect the 1950 Leyland Beaver and the Funeral
Director’s employees stopped the traffic whilst the vintage lorry was slowly
reversed into their facility with less than 9 inches either side through the
doorway.
David was made to feel like part
of the Funeral Directors family sitting in their restroom sipping tea and
chatting to the men. Kerry handed David the cheque and also his sandwich box
which had spent the night with the milk in the staff fridge. As the sandwiches
were handed over the men laughed and one said, ‘Don’t you know that the crem
has got a café?’
Jim had an in-depth knowledge of
the engineering in the 67 year old vehicle having been a Coach Driver in the
1950’s & 1960’s. Rob, the limousine Driver, asked David which part of the
North East he originated from. It transpired that Rob was originally from
Murton, the next Pit
Village to Easington
Colliery where David has gone to school. David said that his Great Uncle Bob
Wallace had worked at Murton Pit and Rob said that his Father had also worked
at Murton Pit and he had often heard him talking about Bob Wallace, which is
not surprising as Bob was a Deputy at the Pit. Within the Mine a Deputy was in
charge of a group of Miners, responsible for achieving production targets but
more importantly the safety of his men. In the 1950’s accidents were part and
parcel of the risks the men took and the Deputy would listen carefully for
cracks from the wooden pit props being a sign that he should get his men out
quickly. Bob Wallace on occasions had to take horrendous decisions if a man was
trapped with rocks on his hand. It was an instant decision that Bob had to make
whether a man had to loose his fingers rather than loose his life and a number
of men were saved by Bob’s actions. Bob Wallace’s left hand was severely
crushed in a mining accident and Surgeons managed to save three digits and
moved his little finger making it his thumb. It was humbling for David to learn
that 40 years after his death people still remembered Bob Wallace. Another
interesting fact about Bob Wallace is that he came back from the Somme, surviving some horrendous injuries, however, just
after the battle he was put on a charge and briefly imprisoned for an act of
kindness. Bob had given a starving German Prisoner a piece of his bread.
The gates at the West Herts
Crematorium were 9 ft apart and set near the road where people attending a
nearby school would abandon their cars. Luckily the funeral day coincided with
a Teachers Strike day and the road was empty. As it was imperative to get the
Leyland Beaver straight in line with the gate posts, David slowly drove past
the posts before quickly applying full lock on the Steering Wheel, the Leyland
Beaver spun on a sixpence and the cab slowly came round as David took off the
lock and ended up exactly in the middle of the gate posts, 9 inches clear each
side. Kerry and the Deceased’s two Grandsons, who were in front of the lorry,
gasped as if they had seen a Paul Daniels magic trick.
Something amazing happened whilst
David was offloading the Flowers, Adam Ginder from Ginder Funeral Directors
stepped forward and took the ‘DAD’ Floral Tributes from David’s hands. Never
before has David seen rival Funeral Directors help one another. The Funeral
Director’s employees were correct that West Herts Crematorium does have a café,
situated next to the flower area, and it was doing a very good trade. People
leaving the café saw the vintage lorry, expressed a lot of interest and David
has never given out so many business cards at a crematorium.
David’s journey home involved the
old A4, which had been a three lane road in the 1950’s but drivers behind the
vintage lorry were reluctant to pass with traffic coming in the opposite
direction. David reflected about his Uncle Bob’s left hand and how as a 5 year
child David would ask if Bob would take it out of its mitten for David to look
at it and asked questions that an older person wouldn’t have raised on ground
of sensitivity. However, the inquisitive young boy helped Bob Wallace’s
confidence and a great relationship was established.
So David thought he could best
convey that the A4 was a three lane road was by putting his thumb and first
finger together and allowing three fingers to protrude, like his Uncle Bob’s
left hand. David steered the Leyland Beaver as far left as he could, displayed
the three finger sign with his right hand, a Van Driver approaching understood
David’s gesture, moved towards his left and a huge gap opened up. Suddenly the
penny dropped, a reluctant female Driver edged past, then a Van, then a Sports
Car. So it gathered momentum and over 200 cars passed the vintage lorry using
the ‘middle lane’ between Thatcham and Calne, with Drivers paying no attention
to the hatched road markings. Drivers coming past were delighted and expressed
their thanks by a friendly toot on the horn, a brief spell of 4 way flashers or
more sedately simply putting their hand in front of their driving mirror, as
drivers would have done in the 1950’s.
