Wednesday 13 April 2016

Sadness and pride

Good morning to everyone who has followed this blog over the years.  I have to tell you now that Margaret Barnard [my wife], sadly passed away on Friday 8th. April, so I fear that the blog may not continue.  As a memorial to Margaret I have set up a just giving page to try to continue her fundraising legacy.  Please take a look and if you are able donate so that her work may continue.  Just search for Just Giving, then search for Margaret Barnard and follow the instructions.
Thankyou
Douglas Barnard

Sunday 3 April 2016

Happy 10th Birthday

It doesn't seem long ago that we held our first Breathe Easy meeting in our lovely Owain Glyndwr Community Hall and here we are celebrating our 10th birthday.





Our chairman David looks ready to tuck in with a glass of champagne.

We had an unusual speaker too - a funeral director and he managed to chase away many fears built up by afternoon TV advertising about the cost of funerals. He took us through a breakdown of costs, ie types of coffin, crematorium, burial plot, hearse or hearse plus cars etc. What it all boils down to of course is if you want more than a basic funeral it will cost more. He estimated that a basic funeral would cost between £2,300 to £2,800, which is a far cry from the £7,000 we are often told on afternoon TV advertisements. He also talked about doing a preplanned funeral, which would be paid for at todays prices. That is always worth thinking about.

It was surprisingly quite a light hearted afternoon and we ended up with some funny funeral stories - here's one that made me chuckle. It was midwinter, icy conditions and the road was slippery. The crematorium was at the top of the hill. The hearse got so far then began to slide back. The following cars managed to get to the side to allow it to pass with only the odd bump or scrape, until it reached the bottom of the hill, where the police car. which had been directing traffic was parked. And, yes, you guessed it, the hearse slid right into it. The daughter of the deceased was heard to shout out "My mother's coming back!" imagine being the policeman reporting the damage to his patrol car.