Last Thursday, the first day of June, there was a very special event in the life of our parish, as around 250 people gathered in St Swithun’s Church, Martyr Worthy (and an adjacent marquee) to celebrate the life of John Platt.

In many ways the service was essentially similar to John’s funeral service in January, which had been attended only by his family, but now there was an opportunity for his many, many friends to be part of the occasion. And the place was ‘packed’!

Those of us who were speaking about John in our tributes tried to express what was almost beyond our power to describe in words, as we reflected on his character and kindness. If you wish to hear my address, focusing on John’s gift of calmness in the storms of life, the video recording can be found here

Afterwards we walked over to Liz’s home where she and her family had laid on the most marvellous garden party (combined with the nicest porta-loos some of us have experienced in many a year!). As I hope these photos make clear, it was a wonderful English garden party, enjoyed by the family and friends of a very special member of our church family.