Garth Lawrence

Garth's funeral took place at 11:00 at Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium in Sheffield. The funeral was attended by close relatives. Memorable moments were an impromtu procession behind the hearse and the short from Gary Wilton on the questions we ask, as well as the music from Faure's requiem.

Following the funeral, Garth's Service of Thanksgiving took place for Garth at 14:00 on Saturday 2nd November at All Saints Church Ecclesall, followed by refreshments at Whirlow Grange.

We asked for donations to Yorkshire Cancer Research in lieu of flowers. The just giving site is here and there was also a collection in church. Donations can also be made through the Funeral Directors, John Fairest.

Garth's order of service is downloadable from here and a description of the speakers and their tributes is given below.

Service

The first hymn was "Now thank we all our God ..." selected by Valerie to represent the thankfulness all his family have for Garth's life.

Family Tributes

The tributes from the family were given firstly by Mark Lawrence, who spoke of the family's camping holidays and the journals Garth kept. He gave three particular reminisences from camping: the security of being held in his Father's arms after splitting his forehead, and the calmness of my Garth's response. The alarm traps we used to wake us when racoons were raiding then tent, and having a face-pulling competition with a young boy during a particularly long ranger talk which ended with the boy being caught. Next Neil Lawrence spoke, his tribute can be read here. Finally Frederick Lawrence spoke about the help his grandfather had given building his Pinewood Derby car for cubs. Using his engineering knowledge to explain to Frederick that it was friction, not aerodynamics that was important at those speeds. And using his carving skills, inherited from his Dad to carve the form of the car.

Hymn

The family tributes were followed by the hymn "Lord of All Hopefulness", selected by Valerie as a hymn that was also sung at Garth and Valerie's wedding in 1967 when it was relatively unknown. It was also chosen as a hymn that Valerie felt both regular churchgoers and less frequent attendees would be familiar with.

Tributes from Friends

The first of the Tributes from Friends was given by Dave Mason, who spoke of Garth's long career at Esso, the respect his colleagues had for him, and Garth's technical, people and management skills. The second tribute was given by Martin Swales (Garth's best man at his wedding), who spoke of their time as students in Sheffield together, their arrival in their first digs (1 Osbourne Road), the times they worked together, and more enticingly what they got up to both in Sheffield and Derbyshire as young student Engineers. Particularly memorable was his description of Garth posing as a 6 foot 2 inch baby in Martin's Austin Seven, done up like a pram, for rag week.

All tribute speakers spoke of Garth's keen sense of humour and his skills as a planner and a leader.

Reading

Psalm 121:1-8 was read by Peter Smith, a former neighbour and one of many valued friends from Garth and Valerie's seventeen years in Billingshurst.

Address

The address from Gary Wilton spoke of his sadness that Garth died too quickly for him to have the conversations with him about the big questions. He felt he would have started that conversation with a question as to whether God believed in evolution. While he felt sure he did, Gary felt that God would have believed in many other things that he thought evolution didn't explain, such as fine music and love. And that these are things given by God.

Hymn

The choral anthem, "For the Beauty of the Earth" was particularly moving, being sung by a combined Hallam Choral Society and All Saints Church choir, but choirs that Garth sang with. The ensemble kindly pulled together by Matthew Redfearn and Vincent Green.

Family Poems

The family poems were read in order by Paolo Lawrence, Sophie Lawrence and Stacey Lawrence. Each poem reflects memories of Garth, Paolo's of playing Pictionary with his granddad, Sophie's of our family's games of Pass Around the Paper and Chloe's of a Walk with Granddad around Higger Tor and Carl Wark Fort from Surprise View. Stacey's poem is here and was a gift for Garth on his seventieth birthday.

Hymn

The next hymn was "Make me a Channel of Your Peace ..." chosen both for its words and tune, as well as the fact that it was suggested by Garth to Marta and Neil for their Wedding.

Prayers

During the prayers the Nunc Dimitus was beautifully sung by Sue Blaby.

The final hymn was "Great is they Faithfulness ..." It was chosen because of the line "Morning by morning new mercies I see". Valerie was grateful for even small mercies during Garth's final days.

Whirlow Grange

Many in the congregation went on to Whirlow Grange for food and tea and shared memories of Garth, enjoyed meeting old friends and relatives, or meeting new people from different stages of Garth's life.