Good bye February, Hello March

February has been really busy and whilst there has been sadness with losing Martin's mum, on the whole, I've settled into my Life of Pottering really quickly and am loving every minute.

March has started off with our trip to Doncaster today, to say our final good byes to Peggy.  The funeral went really well.  It was a glorious day with lots of bright Spring sunshine and blue sky.  The Spring bulbs were starting to make a real good show at the crematorium.

We arrived quite early and another service was just about to begin.  This was a really big funeral for a local bus driver and there were so many guests that both the car parks and the chapel were packed out, with guests spilling out of the back doors.

It was very different to what we were expecting for Peggy.  As the time drew nearer to our slot, Martin was pleasantly surprised, and a bit overwhelmed, to see that, in addition to a couple of ladies from Peggy's care home, there were a few other people attending.  One of Peggy's old neighbours, Liz, had seen the notice in the paper and decided to come along, as had one of Peggy's only two remaining cousins, Brian, who came along with his grandson.



Whilst the service was short and very simple, it was really nice and just what we had hoped for.  We had decided to walk in to the chapel to general classical music and it made us both smile to hear the same music that I walked into on our wedding day.

A celebrant said a few words about Peggy and her life and we all said the Lord's Prayer.  We then listened to 'Days of our Lives' by Freddie Mercury, Peggy's favourite, and it was all over.




We had a good chat with Brian and Liz afterwards, before heading off to our favourite local garden centre for lunch before heading for home.  We've decided that we're going to buy a miniature fruit tree for a big pot in our garden, in remembrance of Peggy - either a pear or a plum, so we'll have a constant reminder of her every time we're in the garden.

The rest of the month is looking quite busy, with lots more School Governor activity over the next few weeks. 

I also want to get cracking on with clearing up in the garden, ready for planting, as well as doing more work on my research into Will Sidney's war - we visited where he used to live in Doncaster today.

We'll end the month with our first cottage holiday of the year.  We always go away for Martin's birthday  and this year we've found, what looks like a nice, but not too expensive, cottage in Holmesfield, near Chesterfield.

It's just on the edge of the Peak District and not that far from Chatsworth, so I'm hoping we get a visit to the Estate garden centre in.  We will also be close to Hardwick Hall, which is a National Trust property, and Bolsover Castle, which is English Heritage.  This will give us chance to activate my leaving gift of a year's membership.  I am sure we will also manage to fit in some Geocaching!!

Thanks for following my journey so far, there's plenty more to come so please do keep reading.