Yesterday we attended Spike’s funeral at Banbury Crematorium. It was a simple but meaningful civil ceremony where along with his family and, I guess, approaching a hundred of his boating friends we paid tribute to one man (and his dog) who had touched many people’s hearts.
It was a measure of the affection that he was held in that so many folk came or sent messages of condolence. Bones writes about her encounters (so much better than I could) in her blog.
The ceremony opened with Fatboy Slim’s Praise You –
We’ve come a long long way together,
Through the hard times and the good,
I have to celebrate you baby,
I have to praise you like I should
Shaun spoke movingly about his older brother looking out for him as a child and how much Spike had enjoyed the last five years since he had been a boater.
He said Spike had never been one to conform to conventions and the best word he had heard to describe him was a rapscallion – one who is playfully mischievous, which conjures up just the right picture of the man that he was. The card on the wreath from the Canal & River Trust (with whom he occasionally had his disagreements) echoed the sentiment by saying “We shall miss Spike’s cheeky smile and Millie’s waggy tail”
Floral Tributes
After the ceremony family and friends adjourned to the Castle House in Banbury to drink to his memory and share the buffet which had kindly been provided.
The family plan to scatter Spike’s & Millie’s ashes together later which is just what he would have wanted.
