Monday 8th July, at 12:00 noon
[Music] [Music] spe e [Music] yes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] spe you don’t have [Music] [Music] to for [Music] spe e [Music] don’t e [Music] [Music] [Music] I [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] got G [Music] [Music] abely [Music] you please stand [Music] please be seated we have come to get together today to give thanks for gwyneth’s life and it’s a day to give special thanks for all that she has meant to you her family and friends we give thanks for her love for her family her daughters Susan and Jane their Partners Steven and Pete grandchildren James and nner and her great grandchildren and gwyneth’s Brother David and sister Dot and The Wider Circle of family and friends we pray for them God’s comfort and strength as we give thanks for Gwen’s long and active life and all the many ways that she touched loved and enriched the lives of Those whom she held dear and indeed the many groups that she was part of during her life a very important part of her life was her faith and her love and trust in God she gave great thought to the service today and selected certain readings that reflected her faith and love that she wanted read today and the main theme of those readings is indeed love for God’s love for Gwyneth and her love of God was the core of her life one of those readings was from first John chapter 4 beloved let us one love one another because love is from God everyone who loves is born of God and knows God and whoever does not love love does not know God for God is love God’s love was revealed Among Us in this way God sent his only son into the world so we might live through him and in this his love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins so beloved since God loved us so much we also ought to love one another for no one has ever seen God if we love one another God lives in us and his love is perfected in US so Gwyneth reflected this love and faith in our trust in God and this an example to us all as we command her to God sure keeping and we me to proclaim the hope of eternal life that we share through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who said I am the resurrection and the life so we meet today to give thanks for a life well lived and the assurance that life and love continues on in the near presence of God let us first stand and sing our hym Lord Lord for the years [Music] Hall [Music] to the world we see [Music] and streng and on the CHR the [Music] oh Lord grant us assuredly to know that Jesus Lives we shall live also Christ is alive and in him we are born again into a Living Hope and an eternal inheritance help us to know that neither death nor life neither the things present nor things to come will be able to separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen a great Psalm of hope and comfort Psalm 121 which we shall say together I lift up my eyes to the hills from where will my help come my help comes from the Lord who made Heaven and Earth he will not let your foot be moved he who keeps you will not Slumber he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep the Lord is your keeper the Lord is your shade at your right hand the sun shall not strike you by day nor the Moon by Night the Lord will keep you from all evil he will keep your life the Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forever more you please be seated as Peter reads the passage from First Corinthians 13 a passage about love when Gwyn was discussing her funeral with the hospital chaplain and Jane she already had one reading in mind but she also wanted this reading as well as it’s all about love it very much reflected who she was and what was important to her even her last words to the nurse before she died were for Jane to be surrounded with support and love from Corinthians the gift of love if I speak in the tongue of Mortals and of angels who do not have love I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol and if I have prophetic powers and understand all Mysteries and all knowledge and if I have faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love I am nothing if I give away all my possessions and I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love I gain nothing love is patient love is kind love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude it does not insist on its own way it is not irit irritable or resentful it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth it Bears all things believes all things hopes all things enures all things Love Never Ends but as for prophecies they will come to an end as for tongues they will cease as for knowledge it will come to an end for we know only in part and we prophesy only in part but when the complete comes the partial will come to an end when I was a child I spoke like a child I thought like a child I reasoned like a child when I became an adult I put an end to Childish ways for now we see in a mirror dimly but then we see face to face now I know only in part then I will know fully even as I have been fully known and now faith hope and love abide these three and the greatest of these is love thanks be to God and I Jane will give of the eulogy and speak of her mom Gwyneth was born in botle to Alice and kadic Williams the second eldest of four children one older brother ber who’s sadly no longer with us and a younger brother David and younger sister Dorth she was a high achiever academically attending Bedford Road primary school then Bole Grammar School for Girls however the outbreak of the second world war meant mom was evacuated in her early teens and her school life was disrupted somewhat also a school report she had kept mentioned how her academic ability had become distracted by the amount of time she was spending in activities outside school she loved being involved in activities but more of that lat Gwyneth was evacuated first to Southport which wasn’t a good experience then later to Herford which she spoke of friendley being there with their best friend when she returned home she worked for a pharmaceutical far pharmaceutic pharmaceutical company er and saers in Liverpool and then the Danish bacon company in 1947 to 1951 during this time in 1948 she met dad Jim through a mutual friend and romance blossomed they married in 1950 at Christ Church ble and impressively flew to the ISA man for their honeymoon which was a rare treat in those days during their courting days and early married life they both loved cycling holidays staying in youth hosts and holidays in butland before daughter Susan arrived in 1953 and may jane in 1960 mom and dad moved from bootle in the 19 50s to Neon and in 1967 bought their own house in neon where they lived for over 40 years before moving to forby in 2010 when they were both in their mid 80s mom loved living in forby with Dad with their wonderful kind and caring Neighbors on either side looking out for her in her later years Gwyneth initially was a homemaker plus having a number of small part-time jobs but then she secured a full-time job at Scotts Bakery where she worked for many happy years in the office until she retired but outside of work and family life mom had many interests and was involved in many activities her Christian faith underp underpinning all that she did when they moved to Neon in the 1950s mom started attending St oswal’s church and was an active member even traveling back and forth when she moved to forby until she started to attend Holy Trinity in Southport with newly conf firm dad and latly here at St peters’s she joined St oswal’s young wives in 1957 which later became the mother’s Union and it was there she met her lifelong friend Olga Gregor in 1958 and they’ve been good friends ever since as an active member of the mother’s Union she was involved in supporting their mission work overseas and laterally our own charity in Randa coordinating her friends and the members to knit blankets for the widows and babies and B baby Cardigans and we lost count of the amount they’ knitted that we took over the years and then there were the summer and Christmas fairs where she baked numerous cakes and served on the Cake store operating an undercounter service to her friends who had baged her homemade chocolate cakes and also saving alga scans for Dad Gwyneth was extremely artistic and part of her Ministry for church was flower arranging a weekly commitment to buying and coordinating the flower arranging team team and she used her needle work expertise to make alar frontals BS and veils and the mother’s Union Banner she served on the PCC delivered Church magazines was invited by Bingham Palace to Liverpool Cathedral on Monday Thursday on the Queen’s visit to mercys side in 2004 and from 1994 she was given Bishop’s permission to distribute the holy sacrament to the Sick by the then Bishop of Warrington which she did well into her 80s taking Holy Communion to people in their own homes and also to a local Care Home M always did everything to the very best of her ability and to high standard so when on one visit to the care home she found she’d been double booked with a folk singer and the staff chose the folk singer she felt obliged to consume all the consecrated Wafers and drink all the wine making herself feel quite Giddy and those who know her well will know she didn’t drink so it wasn’t a a particularly helpful experience for her before this she then had to drive back to Forbe I received a beautiful message from the Vicor at St oswal who’s just retired saying what an absolute blessing M had been with their pastoral visiting to those at home over so many years when mum became too frail to attend church she was blessed to have Jill from here at St peters’s take her Holy Communion to her at home on a regular basis and Mom loves seeing Jill and having a good chat as mom had served so many in this role it was wonderful she could then be served herself and we’re grateful to Reverend an and St Peters for her spiritual care she enjoyed learning different crafts and took numerous courses over many years to develop her gifts and she became expert at cery cake decorating embroidery sequence dancing calligraphy painting and drawing card making flower arranging sewing making fabulous clothes in the early days and latly curtains and soft Furnishings she was a member of the blundel Sands and Crosby flower club from 1993 to 2002 and a long-standing member of the towns women’s G Guild Bole with her childhood friend Jean Becket since 1982 where she had responsibility for delivering the monthly craft activity and she still kept in touch with some of the remaining members to this day including Jean who sadly couldn’t be here today because she’s now housebound and she loved time with Dad seeing family and friends celebrating birthdays anniversaries kayy’s any occasions really always ready to go out for a meal together they had an active social life with regular days out with friends for their bumper picnics and visiting National Trust properties and their monthly afternoon tees with their siblings and spouses in each other’s homes her and dad also enjoyed holidays together their first holiday abroad was to ather in 1973 and they enjoyed many more holidays abroad always using local transport when there and in the UK walking holidays with us in The Lakes Wales and Yorkshire Dales kitted out in their walking boots and kou that was a mean feat for Mom to wear a kou and walking boots as she was always immaculately dressed and took great pride in her appearance so many comments have been made to me about how beautiful she was and she always looked so smart a true lady when we went to Bingham Palace in 2014 and we’re about to go through the gra Gates a group of Japanese tourists accosted mom who did Bear some resemblance to the royal family I think on that day and they insisted on having photographs taken with her which she duly obliged and loved every minute of it Mom and Dad celebrated 70 years of marriage in the year dad died in 2020 and she missed him dreadfully she always said it was their bickering that kept them together and the fact dad dad went out in the morning to walk one of our dogs and mom went out in the afternoon to one of their various groups she loved the freedom driving gave her passing a test when she was 53 and it was hard to get her to give up the car when she was in her ’90s but it was made easier knowing it was to go to a special young lady to enjoy which delighted mom oops despite her saying about the bickering she said how she was blessed to have had such a wonderful life with Dad full of lovely memories of Good Times shared so many adventures together with people she loved around her so many people have commented on what a kind lovely lady she was a gentle person kind and loving all of which she was but she also had a core strength to her a resilience at 93 she embraced life after dad died continuing to live in their own home on her own with increasing health problems and many referrals to various clinics and hospitals becoming more frail physically but determined to stay at home and was so grateful for the loving care and support she received from the shed Care Agency over the past few years who Ena abled her to be in her own home almost to the end and to her wonderful neighbors kette and Peter who have been a great support to her and to us and to Joe and Bill her final diagnosis was a shock to her and me but it gave us a week to talk to PL to laugh and to love and even FaceTime her niece in Cornwall of course this gentle kind woman had already left instructions for me and made sure I knew them resilient and in control to the very end my last Act was to anoint her and pray over with Pete she wasn’t one for music unless they were hymns and she loved to go to the cinema theater and to music musicals and her favorite film of all time being the sound of music and the song Adel Vice I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it wasn’t Christopher Plumber who was singing it but she absolutely loved him and loved Adel Vice I Googled Adel Vice and it sums her up as it said to symbolize true love strength and bravery Mike is now going to play adal Vice for us now to reflect on our own memories of Gwyneth Gwyn mum The Duchess wherever she was known to you as who live life to the full with strength and love with bravery at the end knowing she’s gone ahead of us today reunited with Dad her one true love and with God Amen for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] let us pray we give thanks to God for all who have come before us into his near presence Our Father we thank you for gwenneth a loving mom grandmother sister friend we thank you for all that she’s meant her family and friends we thank you for the many years shared with her and for the Memories treasured today may all who grieve be uplifted by the memory of gw’s Life her love Faith her sense of discipleship the friendship that she offered let those she loved find strength in the example that she has given and be secure in the knowledge that you welcome her into the land of light and joy into the fellowship of all departed from this life through Jesus Christ we pray amen Eternal God our heavenly father you love us with an eternal and everlasting love you can turn the shadow of death into the light of dawn speak to us aresh your gracious promises may they be heard not only with our ears but be written in our hearts that through the comfort of your holy word we may have hope Be The Light in our darkness and bring us into the light and peace of Your Love through Jesus Christ we pray amen oh Lord we ask you to comfort all who more in the death of Those whom they love we pray for gw’s family and friends we pray for Jane and Pete Susan and Steven David and Dot grandchildren great grandchildren and the friends that she’s made throughout her life May all who grieve be uplifted by the memory of all that was good and true in gw’s life be strengthened by your presence and power encouraged by the knowledge that death is but an horizon Beyond which we pass into a brighter and Fuller life it’s not the end but another chapter so give all who mourn the strength to rely on you and the ability to trust in your Eternal promise of life through Jesus Christ we pray amen oh Lord support us all the day long with this wondrous life until the shades lengthen in the evening comes and The Busy World is hushed the fever of life is over and our work is done then Lord in your mercy grant us safe lodging a holy rest and peace at the last through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen we pray using the words that Christ has taught Us in words that gwenneth would have prayed so many times throughout her life Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen and continuing on the theme of Love That Gwyneth wanted we sing Our hymn love divine all lov’s excelling [Music] [Laughter] us BL [Music] PR glor glor to Jane and Pete warmly invite you to join them for Refreshments at formy Cricket Club which is literally just around the corner either after this service or on return from Southport crematorium give rest o Christ to your servant Gwyneth with your Saints where sorrow and pain are no more neither s but life Everlasting go forth upon your journey from this world or Christian soul in the name of God the Father Almighty who created you in the name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you in the name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you in communion with the Blessed Saints of all ages With Angels and Archangels and with all the company of Heaven may your portion this day be in peace and your dwelling in the paradise of God in the blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit be with you and all whom you love and care for this day and always amen for the [Music]