ALBIN'S FUNERAL DIRECTORS
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January 2007

Barry's News Page

Hello again,

A very Happy New Year to you all and I have to say that I fell behind last year with the web diary page. I was amazed at how many people contacted me to ask when the page would be updated, so I promise to try to keep up this year.

When I look back over the past year, I remember so many names of lovely people that have been lost to us all. People that have changed our lives, given us love, changed our community and left a huge void in their parting.

As I opened the chapel and the garden on Christmas morning so that people could visit, I was astounded this year by the incredible number of visitors who came to lay some flowers, or a holly wreath, light a candle or in the case of the recently bereaved, to visit the person they have lost in the chapel of rest. What always astounds me even more is that these people in their loss find the strength to wish me a Merry and Peaceful Christmas. I am humbled by their thoughtfulness and strength and can only imagine what it must be like for them.

After the festivities of Christmas, I was able to take a little time to think about these points and it was clear to me that when we find love and happiness and share wonderful moments in our lives with those special people, there is always a price to be paid. The price that we pay for having found that happiness is the dreadful pain of the loss. You cannot have one without the other. If we never find love or happiness or have any true affection for people around us, then it could be true to say in that isolation, we could never experience love. So if happiness is the first instalment of the pain of loss that may follow, would we sacrifice that happiness? No of course we wouldn’t. And if you can truly see the validity of what I am saying, then you can find some consolation in your loss for we cannot have one without the other.

As a great person once said “ It is better to have loved and lost that never to have loved at all”

I will not mention by name any of the people we have lost this year, but our thoughts and prayers are with them all and it would be amiss of me not to say how much we all miss Rev. Nick Richards at this Christmas time. Bermondsey is a little stronger for having known him and a little sadder for having lost him.

On a much happier note, I am proud to announce the early arrival of my fifth grandchild Danny George Dyer born on 23rd December at 11pm to Jon and Jane, weighing in at 7lb 2oz. Baby, mother and father all doing wonderfully!

We continue to bring troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan and this never ever gets any easier for all of us concerned.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my staff for their hard work, loyalty and support that they have committed themselves to in the past year. They are as ever our greatest asset and are an amazing group of people.

For me it is the end of an incredible year which culminated in me being the host to a world convention in June at the end of my Presidency for FIAT/IFTA. That was a particularly stressful time for all the staff and my family, but it has been hailed as the finest Convention ever held for the Organisation. I was very honoured to have been chosen for that two year term and can only wish my son Simon well as he takes up the mantle now as the UK representative for FIAT/IFTA.

I look forward to chatting to you all again in the coming months.

Cheerio