FAQs about the funeral

Ithought I would post the answers to a few FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about the funeral to save myself and others a few phone calls.

Where should we park for the funeral?

There is only parking for just a few cars at the Cemetery and those spaces will be needed for the funeral cars and the cars of the very close friends and family who have been invited to go with us to the Crematorium after the service in the Chapel and a couple of people involved with the catering. Please therefore do not park in the Cemetery as it could cause chaos and disruption.

There are two car parks nearby. There is the Kent Street Car Park, York, YO10 4AH and one of the local primary schools, St George's offers parking during the school holidays and will be open as it is half term in York. Their address is St George's RC Primary School, 1 Winterscale Street, Fishergate, York, YO10 4BT. Both car parks are within less than 5 minutes walking distance of the Chapel. There is also a Park and Ride service from the Designer Outlet for those of you who know York.

I am coming by train. Who are the local taxi companies?

If you are coming by train, there is a taxi rank outside the station where you will be able to get a taxi to the Cemetery Chapel on Cemetery Road. The refreshments after the ceremony will be finishing at approximately 3.30p.m. It is probably best to book a taxi back to the station as York can be quite busy on Friday afternoons. Two local taxi companies which we use are Fleetways 01904 645333 and Ebor Cars 01904 641441.

How do I write a cheque to "Emma's University Fund"?

Any money donated will be placed in a Building Society Account in Emma's name. It will not be being invested in the Stocks and Shares or anything like that for obvious reasons at the moment. If you would like to write a cheque it simply needs to be payable to Miss Emma French. There will be two buckets/baskets at the service, one for Emma and one for St Leonard's Hospice.

Emma very much knows her own mind and is very clear that she does want to go away to University and without blowing her trumpet too much (athough that is a mum's prerogative!) she is a very clever girl who is getting excellent results at school despite everything she has had to deal with in the last few years. So I am not just a pushy parent!

Other Points

If all goes to plan one of my friends will be filming the ceremony from a static camera as Dave and I have lots of friends who live overseas and we would like to be able to send them a dvd of the ceremony, as they are not able to attend for obvious reasons.

We are going to display some photos of Dave at the Chapel. If you have any nice or funny photos of Dave, particularly older ones, I would love it if you could bring them along to share with us. Emma and I will be preparing a memory box about Dave at a later date, so any photos you could leave with us would be really appreciated.

The funeral directors are J Rymers and if you have any queries they can be contacted on 01904 624320

And, on a final point, although I am sure many, many tears will be shed on Friday, Dave and I always intended that his funeral should be a celebration of his life. He was an amazing man and I hope his funeral will be able to capture a little of his essence.