Udimore

VAL DEAKIN'S FUNERAL: St Mary's Church was just about full to capacity last Saturday for Val's service. For this particularly sad occasion many of the family had come together, and many friends made during her college and teaching days and during her travels with Paul in his career with the RAF. The church was ablaze with flowers, splendidly decorated by our talented flower arrangers, in recognition of the beautiful arrangements Val had produced during many years' service on the church flower roster. There was a good standard of hymn singing by the large congregation, well supported by Gary Marriott, who also contributed three fine solos. In his moving eulogy, Paul described Val as 'kind, considerate, patient and very industrious . . . an exceptional and outstanding wife, mother, grandmother and daughter', and ended with the words, 'My beautiful wife was the wind beneath our wings'. The exact cause of the tragic accident in which Val died in Westerham on Christmas Eve is still unknown.