We buried our beloved Ken on a glorious sunny St. George’s Day – the sort of beautiful spring day he would have loved.

Our precious family and friends packed the Shefford church to hear the service, a celebration of Ken’s life conducted by the Minster Dave Haseldine with such dignity and grace. They heard our children, well not children anymore as they gained in stature with every word they spoke as they paid tribute to their Grandad.  Sam told of a wonderful kind loving man never fazed by his age, her heartwarming admiration of Ken and Betty’s 57 year marriage and of her hope that she might one day find that one special person to spend her life with. There were sweet memories of past Christmas’s and breakfast traditions of cornflakes and chocolate whenever they stayed over at Nan and Grandad’s, and of a lasting image of Grandad in his favourite chair handing out sweets.  Adam, in the poem they had composed, spoke of  Grandad and his loving deeds and being ever thoughtful of our needs.

And when it was over, the sound of Roy Harper’s plaintive cricketing lament drifted out of the church and into the sunny green and pleasant fields of rural Bedfordshire where Ken spent his boyhood days and where he would now be laid to eternal rest.

”When an old cricketer leaves the crease you never know whether he’s gone” sang Roy. But we do know our beloved Ken has gone and where he has gone….and our faith tells us we will one day meet him on another green and pleasant field – where the echo of bat against ball will resound once again.

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It was great to see Stairway To Heaven voted the nation’s all time number one rock song. My favourite versions ? I’ll select three: Earls Court May 24th 1975, the long rambling version from Seattle ‘77 and the epic fourteen minute performance at Bonzo’s last stand in Berlin on July 7th 1980. I played all three of those versions today and it was more than evident that Stairway To Heaven remains a true “Song of hope”. And hope is something we need to cling on to in the days ahead around here…