On Thursday the 27th of January we attended the funeral of my wifes Grandmother and my son’s Great Grandmother. Big Grandma or Mrs Clarke had 7 children, 33 grand children, 56 great grand children and 1 great great grand child.
She was one of the generation of Jamaican nationals who came to the UK during the 50’s and faced hardship and prejudice, but who prospered and raised loving families and contributed to the growth and success of many cities in the UK.
Big Grandma was immensely loved by her huge family and the attendance at her funeral (500+ people) was testament to this. My condolences and respect are passed on to her children and grand children who put such a huge effort into her memorial service and funeral. It was an amazing event.
During the day I took numerous pictures and videos, some of which are used here in the two videos below. The soundtracks are two songs by Tom Waits.
Tom uses gospel and folk americana throughout his releases and the tracks used here illustrate the emotional & spiritual aspects of those forms. They may not be to everyone’s tastes but I think they work well.
Given that both songs are officially realeased and whilst this site has limited traffic, if the good folks at Anti object I’d be happy to take the videos down. On the flip side anyone who hasn’t heard Tom before should visit Amazon or Anti for more information.
adrian4 