Friday we had the wedding of a lifetime, and Saturday quickly followed with the funeral of my Granpa, Peter Roy Forryan Morley. He died on Friday 15th April 2011 aged 96 years.
The funeral was delayed due to the Easter weekend and a busy time in the church calendar, plus of course the Royal Wedding which has meant an extra long holiday weekend for us here in England again. It felt strange to wait so long to bury him and say goodbye but I think the celebratory mood that the nation has been in during that time definitely made the funeral sparkle with an air of celebration rather than pure grief.
Granpa was a very successful professional man, having held a partnership in a surveying firm for most of his career in Nottingham where he lived and worked. He was also a highly regarded auctioneer and championed the creation of the Nottingham Open Tennis Tournament which is widely known as the top pre-runner tournament to Wimbledon over here. It was clear from the 120 guests at his funeral that he had a huge impression on many men that he worked with and whose careers he had helped to launch and shape.
He was an accomplished piano player and headed various local charities in Norfolk where he lived for the past 35 years during his retirement. Granpa was a socialite which definitely enabled him to be as successful as he was. I rarely ever saw him without a tie on (even at the breakfast table), and he was a gentleman, always raising his cap to any female he saw. He was also an avid royalist and had an eye for pretty young ladies, so he would have been delighted with the Royal Wedding and Will's choice of bride.
His grandparenting skills were best when my brother and I were young - he loved to take us around his land on his tractor mower, cutting the grass (or sometimes not because it didn't need doing...again!). He would take us on errands and give us secret wine gums from his stash in the bureau in his sitting room. He was always keen to introduce us to wine which was another passion of his, and it was common for him to pour us a glass at the dinner table when we were less than teenagers.
I remember him being terribly proud and choking back tears when I called him to tell him I had achieved a First Class Honors Degree at university. I studied in Nottingham which added extra pride for him. Despite that achievement, what he really wanted for me to was to find and marry a wealthy and successful man - he was a traditionalist and mixed in circles which would have appreciated this. He was very fond of Joe and loved to talk to him about business and also opened up to him with stories of his time in the war (during which he served with the Royal Navy). I think in some way Joe was the son that he had never had.
I will treasure the memories of my Granpa as a young girl and visiting his lovely house in rural Norfolk. He leaves behind his second wife Liza (my step grandmother) who we will certainly stay in touch with and visit when we can. Being in their house will keep the memories of my childhood times there alive.
Lucy meets her Great Granpa for the first time
Granpa was devoted to his Christian faith and I am sure that he is now where he knew he would always travel on to - an eternal life both in heaven and on earth, in the many memories he left behind, the careers he helped to shape, and the causes he championed and left for future generations to benefit from. We buried him on the hillside in the churchyard of his favourite church in the village of Fring where he and Liza spent their retirement together. He looks out over the farm that he lived opposite and he is still close enough to the church doors to keep an eye on the congregation and make sure they keep up the work of his beloved church.
Goodnight Granpa x
The photo at the top of of me with Granpa and his wife Liza about 5 years ago at their house in Fring, Norfolk.
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