Roland Humphries 1980 to 2003

Not long after Roland’s funeral on 24 November 2003, Rose wrote:

The morning of the burial was clear with bright sunshine. The hearse brought Roland up to Penmanor, so that the funeral cars started from home. Jeremy and I sat on either side of him in the hearse. My employers Barrie and Jackie provided and drove two cars for the mourners, containing Jacob, Jonathan, Roland's ex-girlfriend Bron, and four of Roland's friends. And in other cars were another six of his friends, my friend Mary, and three neighbours. Derek (father of Jonathan and Jacob) and his wife Judy met us at Westall Park.

It was a pretty drive through Hanbury Woods and on to Westall Park Woodland Burial Ground at Holberrow Green. The bearers were Jeremy, Jonathan, Jacob, and Roland's friends Andrew, Mark, and Luke. The burial ceremony by Thelma (a humanist officiant) was beautiful and heart rending, with many tears; at the end she passed round a basket of evergreen clippings to be thrown on the coffin, as a symbol of remembrance.

Roland is buried on a hillside, at the edge of the canopy of a big oak tree, and standing at his grave you look over the Worcestershire countryside to the Malvern Hills. The woodland will take a while to grow, as most of the trees can’t be planted until the grave areas are filled up, but there are quite a lot of saplings already.

We drove back to All Saints Hall in Bromsgrove for the commemoration ceremony. Our parents were waiting there (too frail to come to the burial), with Jeremy’s sister, brother-in-law and niece who had been getting the hall ready. They made it lovely with flower arrangements and a display of Roland’s guitars and other objects and many photos of him from all through his life. Jeremy’s musician friend Dave was there playing gentle guitar music he had compiled on a disk, to be followed by relevant tunes during the ceremony and more music Roland liked afterwards.

We expected about fifty people at this ceremony, but it was nearer seventy who came. It was good to see how many young people were walking in as the time drew nearer for it to start - and so many dressed in suits, too (Roland never possessed anything resembling a suit). Some of his great-uncles and aunts were also there.

Thelma conducted this commemoration ceremony also, and there were plenty of tears.

When it finished everyone was invited to stay in the hall for refreshments. Then, gradually, people drifted off. It was good to feel that so many people cared.

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