Mrs Brandon (1906 - 2006)
| Home (Aston) | Index (Aston) |
A Farewell to Mrs Brandon
Two Headmasters and at least eight AOEs, including a veteran of Ashby, joined the three children, all the UK based grandchildren (of whom there are 7 in total) and great grandchildren (11) at a Service of Thanksgiving for the long life of Mrs Brandon.
This took place on Thursday 29th June at St Mary's, Lichfield where Mrs Brandon had been an active member until a fall two years previously.
The hymns sung had been selected from a list supplied by Mrs Brandon! They were preceded by an introduction from son Jack, who was followed by eldest daughter Ann describing her mother's 'early' life - from 1906 to 1980! Ann told us, among many other things, that her mother had disliked her Christian name and so was known as 'Mrs B', 'Gran' or 'Bran'.
After the hymn 'Let all the world in every corner sing' the Vicar of St Mary's - the Reverend David Kirk Beedon - spoke of 'Bran's' Lichfield years. He was followed by a reading given by Sally Fletcher, granddaughter.
The hymn 'Jesus shall reign where'er the sun' set the scene for four remarkable contributions from greatgranddaughters aged 18 downwards. Perhaps the member of the family best remembered by our generation, Jill, gave the second reading. Twin of Jack, Jill had been the first to greet me on arrival at the church - very gratifying.
Mrs B's final hymn 'Lord of all hopefulness' brought this celebratory service to a close.
All present were invited to tea and cakes afterwards, during which I was able to chat to Jill, Sally and eldest grandchild, Andrew Mercer, the last two having corresponded with me by email over recent months.
The conversation turned, inevitably, to Longdon where Andrew recalled sliding down the main staircase on his bottom - at a time when we weren't even allowed to walk down it! He said the granchildren used to love the school holidays when they had the run of the place and slept in Tower Dorm with the door jammed open.
Sally summed up the gathering beautifully when she said that her grandmother would have loved to have been present on such an occasion, at which all the strands of her long life were drawn together in so cheerful a remembrance.