On a cold, wet, windswept, and forbidding morning, John Frederick Hopper was piped into the Chapel in Northampton.
It was the kind of weather that killed Fred's favourite General - Joe Johnston - six weeks after he attended, hat in hand, Billy Sherman's Funeral. But old Joe was paying his last respects to his adversary, we were paying our last respects to a comrade.
'Down to the River to Pray' by Alison Krauss closed a very moving service and had everyone in bits as we all filed out into a veritable downpour.
We decamped back to Wellingborough to a club room and the mood lifted. John would have loved it. Memories and reminiscences were swapped, a slideshow of pics of John's life were looped on the tv's and we celebrated it. Gerry Lynch gave his tribute to John and Anna thanked everyone for their condolences.
A sad day, but an air of optimism at the end. It was good to see representatives from all John's affiliations there, plenty of old and present SOSKAN members and also put some names to faces. It was particularly apt that Terry Boniface and Bill Snelling, who are working on the history project, were there because John/Fred is a major contributor to that history.
Yardley Chase is on whenever we want it according to Nathan. That's the perfect opportunity for us to see Fred off campaign-style.
Nobby
It was the kind of weather that killed Fred's favourite General - Joe Johnston - six weeks after he attended, hat in hand, Billy Sherman's Funeral. But old Joe was paying his last respects to his adversary, we were paying our last respects to a comrade.
'Down to the River to Pray' by Alison Krauss closed a very moving service and had everyone in bits as we all filed out into a veritable downpour.
We decamped back to Wellingborough to a club room and the mood lifted. John would have loved it. Memories and reminiscences were swapped, a slideshow of pics of John's life were looped on the tv's and we celebrated it. Gerry Lynch gave his tribute to John and Anna thanked everyone for their condolences.
A sad day, but an air of optimism at the end. It was good to see representatives from all John's affiliations there, plenty of old and present SOSKAN members and also put some names to faces. It was particularly apt that Terry Boniface and Bill Snelling, who are working on the history project, were there because John/Fred is a major contributor to that history.
Yardley Chase is on whenever we want it according to Nathan. That's the perfect opportunity for us to see Fred off campaign-style.
Nobby
