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September 2023 September 2023
the fruit trees, apples, pears, plums, cherries etc can become low yielding after
difficult wet times or result in having very high moisture content fruits, that makes OBITUARIES/EULOGIES
harvesting and processing ready for retailing or for storage very difficult. It is not
only what we know as fruit trees that suffer in this way. The grain harvest could also
be affected both in yield and moisture content. Having a higher moisture content Diana (Di) Phillips - 3.1.43-10.7.23
can result in greater drying costs and difficulty in long term storage. A service at Dorset Downs Natural Burial

All we can pray for now is a warm, dry end of summer and beginning of autumn Ground on 28th July, conducted by Mr
and that the harvest is plentiful because there have been catastrophic Neil McCain.
happenings around the world, resulting from floods and more recently wild fires
which have resulted in various crops being burnt up. Good morning and welcome to the
Still “A stitch in time saves nine”, as was a common saying a few years ago but Dorset Downs for this service of
now is rarely used. In my childhood my parents, grandparents and school teachers celebration for the life of Diana Phillips. a
were constantly using such sayings but which mean little to the younger wonderful and much loved lady. My
generations. Another of these old sayings, “Too many cooks spoil the broth,”, name is Neil and I'll lead us as we come
should be aptly used when deciding what to do about our current problems together to pay tribute to Diana, give
nationally and internationally. May a sensible government and its specialist thanks for all that she meant to us, and
departments in agriculture, population density, food imports, immigrant control be say goodbye now that our time with her is
great departments in general because:-- “A stitch in time saves nine”. over. In doing so we will express our love
and affection for her.
My maternal grandfather was a great one for using these wonderful, old sayings
and so I hope that we think seriously about them and remember, “Waste not, The poem I've just read out is a kind of gentle ultimatum to you - a choice on
want not.” Thinking back to my grandfather’s times, made me think of my the wav you can all react to this service, the way you might choose to
grandmother and believe it or not her electricity supply, its installation and the behave in the future. Right now it feels like a tough, almost unbearable
method of paying for it. decision. When you think of Diana here, now, it's natural that sadness and
sorrow invade your thoughts - you're grieving because you've lost someone
She and my grandfather lived in a very old house, Its walls were about three feet you love and you know the hole Diana's left in your lives can never be filled.
thick, made of chalk, which were covered with a pebble dash coating to prevent To all of you here - especially John and Colin and the rest of Diana's family -
erosion. It overlooks the village duck pond at the end of the High Street in the please remember that wherever they are, everyone is thinking of you today
village of Buriton just north of the Southdowns in the county of Hampshire. Myself and they, send their love and friendship to you to sustain you in times to
and my two older brothers were born in this house and spent our early years there. come.
In the early days there was no electricity supply, with little chance of getting it until
the war was over. When connection eventually I know you'11 appreciate that support. She might have had a lot of candles
was completed, my grandmother had to put on her last birthday cake - 80 of them to be precise - but she was spritely 80,
shillings into the meter to pay in advance for all full of verve and sparkle. with a twinkle in her eye and a determination to
power used. Of course this meant that a “meter make the most of every day. She was always smiling and always busy:
man” had to call every so often to empty it. everything from her own sewing projects and baking
to helping others, catching up with friends and
This was a very special day for my grandmother, getting involved in her local community, to writing her
because the electricity company always paid a memoirs, or penning some poetry or a letter to an old
rebate. I can see it now, the “electric man” pal. Diana loved life and so last October when she
unlocked the meter took out the money box, learned that she had myeloma, she did her best to
came into the kitchen and emptied a cary on as normal, doing all of these things and more,
considerable number of shillings onto the table. her spirits buoyant and keen to make more memories
He then sat down and counted the total money with all of you. Very sadly, despite the initial success
there. Then he did something my grandmother of the treatment she was given to fight the cancer,

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