John Marjoram's funeral cortege nears the cemetery

The funeral cortege for John Marjoram approaches Stroud cemetery along Horns Road, and passes the Crown and Sceptre, the main pub in Trinity Ward where he was the District and Town Councillor for thirty years.

John approached me to become a town councillor after I helped to halt the redevelopment of our local children’s playground in our estate. There was a vacant seat in Trinity Ward where we both lived and he thought I had the makings of an active councillor despite my not being a formal ‘Green’ candidate.  I believed in many of their principles but not all, and from then on after my eventual election we worked in parallel and the local Green Party never put up candidate to stand against me for one of the three seats in the ward.

John died last week and a book could and might be written about his life and works. The BBC published this tribute soon after he died, which gives a good indication of his acheivements.

His funeral was held this morning in Stroud Subscription Rooms, the first time one had been held there in its 200 year history. He was a life long Quaker and so a form of their funeral service was held with the addition of a Christian vicar who giving a long eulogy, expressing the voices many other people, before saying some prayers for him. The building was overflowing, in fact many people wand to be refused entry on safety grounds, apparently there were at least five hundred people inside the Sub Rooms main auditorium.

After the service his green cardboard coffin was taken outside and placed on a an old bier, and a procession lead by Stroud’s Red Band began the mile long climb up the hill to Stroud Cemetery, a place I have blipped many times. We actually live close by the cemetery so I drove home and anticipated the procession’s arrival by standing in Daisybank, a key local park beside Horns road and the Crown and Sceptre pub, which John knew well. It has always been the site for community meetings and action groups for many years, often being lead by John. The pub was also where I first heard about Blipfoto from my friend DailyKeith.

I’m blipping a view from steps leading up to Daisybank showing the procession’s approach along Horns Road. I’m also adding an ’Extra’ showing the whole procession with the Red Band at the fore.

Having taken this photo I walked the back way to the cemetery as I knew where he would be buried and I waited for the family to lead the procession to the grave. The Red Band stayed in the background outside the cemetery for a while. There was another short ceremony preceding the interment. The family asked that no pictures be taken in the cemetery, as they had also requested during the funeral service inside the Sub Rooms.