The Day of the Funeral

We resume term today, with two and a half weeks until half-term.

At the end of last term, Miriam Poulton in IV form wrote an essay in her exam under the title 'The Day of the Funeral'. It starts:-

I remember the day of my grandmother’s death as being a bad day for two reasons. One, because my nana died and two, because I had to get braces that afternoon.

But in a strange way, the day of the funeral is almost a happy memory, a day when our family as a whole seemed content, at peace as we knew Nana now was.

I wish I could say she was a fantastic woman who was famous or beautiful or did something extraordinary in her time. And maybe she was, and maybe she did, but I just remember little old Peggy Noble, with grey old lady curls and blue eyes hidden behind thick windowpanes of glasses, who sat in her favourite chair every afternoon to watch Countdown and always smelt of talcum powder.

Read the whole of Miriam's evocative and funny story here.