The funeral arrangements have been made, funeral is not the right word for me, so it has been called a celebration.
Due to the nature of the accident and that a public vehicle was involved it took a day or two longer for Alison to be released so that we could see her at the chapel of rest, at what I rate as one of the best funeral companies in Suffolk.
Armstrongs in Bury St Edmunds, is a family run business, without them we could not have made Alison's celebration of her life, so beautiful and emotional.
Finally the day had come to see her in the chapel of rest. I had supplied a photo of Aly when the celebration details were decided and finalised, so that they could do the best they could to make her look lovely. They didn't disappoint, she looked angelic in her hand woven willow casket. Anyone who has seen a deceased body, will know that it is just a shell and that the spirit of the person is no longer there.
It was all totally surreal, am I really standing here looking at the love of my life, this is so wrong, her hair was styled perfectly, make up had covered the bruising to her face, but she was just a shell. I stayed with her and said my last goodbyes to her physical body, amongst uncontrollable sobbing. I kissed her forehead like I always used to, I kissed her lips many times and held mine on hers, even though they were icy cold. I knew this would be the last time I ever kissed those beautiful lips, the last time I would see her in physical form.
Leaving that room tore me apart.
Alison's cremation took place at West Bury Crematorium, Risby on Thursday 12th May at 3.45pm. Her hand woven willow casket was draped in white lilies and white roses. I placed a photograph and a personal note to Aly on top of the casket.
We had no vicar or hymms. We had music that Alison loved and words were spoken by family and friends. Songs included were; Scott Joplin 'The entertainer' Alison loved to play that on the keyboard. Pretty woman and Youv'e got it from Roy Orbison, so fitting for Aly, On the Floor by Jennifer Lopez, the last song Aly danced to. The last song was All Along the Watchtower, the Battlestar Gallactica version, Alison just loved the sequence in the series that the song was played over. Her favourite character 'Starbuck' finds heaven as such in the sequence and goes into the white light. I remember Alison just shouting 'Wow that is so cool', when she saw it. We watched the entire series of Battlestar together.
Over 100 friends and family attended, bright colours was the order of the day. I would say that 75% were friends a testament to how special Alison was. Even the police attended, as Alison had done her advanced motorcycle training with them. There were also many fellow bikers.
A private reception was held in Shimpling village hall for close friends.
