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This
picture was framed and laid on a low table at the front of the church.
People were asked to bring a single rose. On arrival they brought
their rose to the front of the church and broke it, scattering its
petals on the table in order to recognise the sense of wasted life
when someone so young has been taken from us.
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The
service was led by Dave & Dot Littlewood, Donna's friends and
former pastors from her church in Hull. There was a great kids party
in the church hall at the same time.
Click
on the right to see the order of service.
Everybody
also got a card with Donna's favourite quote on it. Click
on this sentence to see it. I'd love to send you one if you
email me.
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Andrew
Spurr, her Rector in Stansted, had prepared a short visual history
of Donna's life that was projected over the track 'One' by U2.
Here
is a (very) mini version for you to see by clicking on the pic.
click on the slide show words for
a better version with music - it's in flash so might take a few
minutes to download or stream if you've got broadband.
The
slides are beautiful and hard to watch if you loved Donna.
Here
is another page of all the images that you can browse and see bigger.
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A
number of people offered tributes to Donna, telling of their memories
of her and the legacy of their relationships with her.
Some
are here for you to look at.
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Dot
announced that there would be an offering to Water Aid after the
service. See the logic of this on the right in a paraphrase of Donna's
own words.
Around
£2,500 was given - enough to install a new well in a village.
Visitors
also wrote their tributes in a book after the service. If you would
like to add to this book please write to Andy. It is principally
for Cara and I would love to have as many entries in it as possible.
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True
to form there was a party at the end - people stayed in the church
for another 2 hours. Many had travelled long distances by plane
to be there.
The
service was a powerful occasion - over too quickly for me as it
was wonderful to know that so many were standing in solidarity with
me. I had a sense of my grief being validated. I feel like the world
has stopped, and for a short time for a number of people, it did.
Thanks.
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On
Saturday 6th March we committed Donna's ashes to a grave in Edinburgh.
I have posted up a piece that was read on the occasion on a page
here
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Donna's
committal poem |
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