An Unconventional Funeral

Times are changing, so are the ways in which we celebrate our cultural rituals. There is an ongoing growth in the humanism and spiritualism movements in Ireland.

Opus to my Dad, The Film Addict

Taking your final journey, you once told me that films allowed you to experience any adventure in any time,
And yet your own life was full of adventure.
So, in closing; the opus of your life

A gift to Nan and Grandad
BABY BOOM
Playing the Bugle at the Salvation Army
BRASSED OFF
Falling in the river and emerging with tiddlers in your boots
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE on A NIGHT TO REMEMBER
Standing in your cot during the war
THE LONGEST DAY

Moving to Kent
MOVING WITH RICHARD PRYOR
Riding a bicycle to the Saturday morning pictures, buying your ticket, a three-course meal and a few comics and still having change from tuppence
TWELVE MONKEYS
Excelling in History, English and Engineering
DEAD POET’S SOCIETY
Loving the French revolution, and your lady teacher
MARIE ANTOINETTE
Not too keen on carpentry

FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF
Getting into the Tech
GOOD WILL HUNTING
A natural in the Humanities and Mechanics
THE MECHANIC
Learning gardening, later doing Nan’s garden
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Joining the RAF
BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Honourable discharge, peritonitis
A FEW GOOD MAN
Playing basketball and wrestling
TEEN WOLF
Marrying and having a family, twice, Grandchildren
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN
Working for the Post Office
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE

Writing to, and getting replies from Kenneth Williams, the cast of Monkey Magic and Jacqueline Pearce from Blake’s Seven
SERENDIPITY
Later working for London Transport, lifelong service
UNSTOPPABLE
Passing your Engineering exams
RED DWARF
Getting burnt in Tunisia
STAR WARS ON-SET

Writing for The Prisoner magazine
I AM NOT A NUMBER, I AM A FREE MAN
A Trekkie and a Fanderson
TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE
Scotland with Moggie and Jasper
BRAVEHEART
Known for your love of films
FAMILY GUY

Driving to Frejus
LE JETEE
Listening to Jack the Giant Killer and other fairy tales all the way
MALEFICENT
Your favourite film; The Seven Samurai
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Visiting a Buddhist Temple
SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET

A lifelong believer in reincarnation and multiverse theory
SOURCECODE
You admired nan’s faith
THE SILENCE
Meeting you at the train station
BRIEF ENCOUNTER
A duck named Quackers, a rabbit named Lady
WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? YOU VISITED THE SET

Big Nan’s at the seaside, trampolines, pavilion
THE PIRATE MOVIE
Shouting more than the children at pantomimes
THE SLIPPER AND THE ROSE
Aunty Pauline and Uncle Melvin’s Farm; cuddling the chickens
WALLACE AND GROMET
Video shop and Empire and StarBurst magazines
VIDEODROME

Travelling across America
CANONBALL RUN, MIDNIGHT RUN
Planning, maps, maps and more maps
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
Disliking Disneyland, preferring Magic Mountain
NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION
WWF and Golden Ladies of Wrestling
MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Loving the national parks, and of course Universal Studios
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
White water rafting and swimming
INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM
Meeting Morgan Freeman, Bridget Fonda and John Hurt
DEEP IMPACT
Experiencing an Earthquake
TREMORS

Getting Emma and I to sit next to a rattlesnake for a photo
ANACONDA with a bit of VENOM
Telling stories of your gang on the underground
MEN AT WORK
Horse and camel riding
THE MUMMY
‘Cheating Bitch’ was your name for the arcade games; Cheyenne and Track n Field.
TAKEN FROM THE THING, A FILM DAD AND I WATCHED WHEN I WAS WELL UNDER 18 SORT OF 8ISH

A connoisseur of the midnight Rocky Horror Show
MICHAEL RENE WAS ILL, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
Feeding the animals at Brambles Forest Park
HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS
Cinema, cinema, cinema
THE ARTIST as ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST
London Shows; Phantom, Cats, Evita
THE PRODUCERS, YOU LOOKED A BIT LIKE KENNETH MARS

Long drives and equally long chats
ROAD TRIP
Atlantis and Build a Better Burger
CLUE
A lady’s man
RISKY BUSINESS
Treasure hunt at Christmas, impossible clues
THE GOONIES

Buying Nanny allsorts and aunty Glad coconut mushrooms
CHOCOLAT
Impossible quizzes and clues
SHERLOCK HOLMES
You spoke your mind, especially in restaurants
THE BLUES BROTHERS
Lapland, travelling across the ice; reindeer, huskies and ski-do trailers
ALIEN VS PREDATOR

Visiting Ireland, we got you drunk and stuck Star Wars stickers to your walking stick
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Happy Doggy Birthdays
THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

Taking your final journey, you once told me that films allowed you to experience any adventure in any time, and yet your own life was full of adventure.
So, in closing the opus of your life,
We offer these last words with heartfelt love…
ROADS? WHERE WE ARE GOING, WE DON’T NEED ROADS!

In loving memory of Anthony ‘Tony’ Baldock 1940-2018