David J. Rose

By djrose007

What an amazing send off.

Today I had the sad occasion to attend a friends funeral. 
Phil 'Blokey' Glanville was only 53 years old, diagnosed with an incurable cancer (Angiosarcoma - Wikipedia) and was given only days to live, unless he endured chemotherapy, which would give him 3 or 4 more months. He chose the time as he wanted to finish some things in the house so Julie wouldn't have to get them done.
Phil was famous for his dedication to the Royal British Legion Riders Branch and his inventiveness in creating things to further the RBL and raise funds for the Poppy Appeal. When I first met him, around 2014, he had built a shooting range, made the compressed air rifles which fired soft bullets, made the 25 yard range which was covered in net so no bullets went astray. He made an LED Poppy, large, to go on the roof of his, and his partner Julie, bungalow and this was lit all through the Poppy Appeal fortnight. Another amazing creation was 'Tommy', made from a mannequin, a greatcoat, WW1 helmet, trousers, puttees and boots, and a .303 replica rifle. There are so many other things he created, amazing bloke.
What a send off he had, in his motorcycle hearse with the coffin decorated with a painting of blue skies and a field full of poppies.
I estimate about 60 bikes and trikes in attendance plus some that came by car.
We rode from the house to the cemetery, almost all of the bikes were flying flags (mine included), mostly Welsh flags, Lest We Forget, and my Black Union Flag. It was about 2 miles to the cemetery, almost passing our house on the way, and traffic stopped to let us all go through despite them having green traffic lights.
A moving service and music, standard bearers from the RBL (7 of them), a bugler for the Last Post and Reveille after a minutes silence.
RIP Phil 'Blokey' Glanville, you are certainly going to be missed.

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.