To all of Caroline's friends that could not be at the funeral yesterday I will share Caroline's final journey.
Caroline arrived at the bungalow a little early before the time they said 1.45.
Waiting for her in her bungalow was her big brother Grant, Sonia ,Nigel & myself(Sangita).
The doors of the hearse were opened and there was a wonderful Coffin spray on her Coffin from Grant.
There was a another wreath from Cindy and the rest I can't remember sorry !
Once Grant Sonia And Nigel were in the limo I went in my little blue Golf ( no Name but it auto piolets to Caroline's House) to my car.
I was told so that they know we were part of the funeral party to have our headlights on.
Two of her neighbours Sue & Linda had also said they would follow in their car Sue in her little smart car and Linda in her red car.
Once i was in the car it was a case of waiting for Caroline to say goodbye to her bungalow and her neighbours who had come outside to say goodbye.
Once everyone was in place Jane the undertaker walked in front of the hearse as they started pulling out of Westbury close and Grants Limo followed and then The Golf and the smart car and the red car.
As I pulled away the tears started and rolled until the end of Westbury Avenue where Jane sat back in the limo.
Once we left Westbury Avenue we started the journey to the Crem.
All four cars followed Caroline slowly (I was in total control by then in case you wondered ,I had to be !)
The Journey to the crem was a calm one Caroline and I used to do part of the journey when i used to take her to work so the route was a familiar one.The only traffic lights were we got separated at I panicked as although Nigel had switched on the Sat Nav I had not programmed it to the Crem.(Caroline never liked the Sat Nav's voice )Luckily they waited for me so we were altogether again.The rest of the journey was hassle free.
We arrived at the Crem the two cars went to the chapel and the three cars reared to the car park.
On arrival Jane (Yes another Jane)the celebrant greeted us and the final journey with Caroline began.
Grant,Sonia Nigel and myself walked behind Caroline down the aisle with Kate Bush playing(you will have to ask Grant the song).
Once everyone was seated Grant was seated with Sonia on one side and myself on the other and Nigel beside me.
In the Celebration of Caroline's life Jane spoke about Caroline and I learnt a few things which i didn't know about Caroline.
The whole service was lovely i could hear some sniffles coming from the back I did not turn as I was at the front.
I cried a little only when there was mention of her mum and dad and how she cared for them over the years and this made me think of my dad who I lost just before Caroline was first diagnosed with Cancer.
We sang a hymn again you will need to ask Grant what it was although I knew it of by heart.
There was a few poems Caroline had chosen two of the poems and the music herself and the final poem Nigel & I found in the Garden room which we all agreed was very appropriate to be read.
After Jane finished the Curtains slowly closed to a Kate Bush song (Check with Grant) and we said our goodbye to Caroline and left to look at the flowers.
Once we looked at the flowers several of her work colleagues( friends really )came and saw Grant Nigel & myself in total i would have said there was about 30+ people there.
There were a few there that were not going to come but once i had spoken to them changed their mind.
I was conscious of the time as the next part of the celebration of Caroline's life was across the road from Lloyds bank in Farnham at Brasserie Blanc.Caroline had wanted to go there for her retirement sadly it did not happen so this was the next best thing.I decided to take one of the girls from work with me as four of the girls had been working in the morning and had come straight from work so I took Dominika who used to take the train with Caroline on the days she worked with me.As I knew the route back to Farnham we chatted about the service and Caroline and finally arrived at work and as usual ( Caroline knows about me and my parking) I Caused a little traffic jam as i backed into the Bank car park .Once parked I then popped into the branch to let them know I was blocking them in they had brought in staff so all the girls could come to the Service.I then crossed the road to Brasserie Blanc and for once i was first to check everything was ok. They had set everything up just as Caroline would have wanted and Dom and I waited for everyone to arrive.
Grant Sonia & Nigel arrived but popped into the bank first as Grant had as far as i know never saw Caroline at Farnham Branch as she started working there I thinjkfrom memory Oct 2015.
Once they arrived we all went to the garden and had Pink Prosecco (Caroline had wanted to treat all her friends on retirement to Prosecco).The food arrived after that and it was a wonderful spread consisting of Fish & Chips Burgers,Chicken Dippers,Vegetable Spring Rolls Breads & Dips far too much (Richard your share was waiting for you.) and pudding Vanilla Madeleine and Chocolate Delice (these went very quickly and no i didn't eat them all).We all chatted and Grant put some names to faces, for myself and Nigel it was nice to catch up with friends/colleagues who we hadn't seen for a long time especially the ones who were no longer with the bank.
As I had left my 13 year old with a friend I was concscious of the time so I decided to leave and as Sonia had a long journey back to Suffolk the four of us decided it was time to leave so off we went back in my golf to Caroline's bungalow.
The route i would have taken to drop Caroline home passing the nursing home that her mum had spent in her last days.
We finally arrived back home dropping Grant and Sonia off and then Nigel to his house and i went to pick up my daughter Niki.
After an exhausting day we all agreed she had a lovely send off and everything went to plan just as she had wanted.
Caroline my little Golf will miss you !
Sangita