Anna's Speech

I have my own special reason to be thankful to Dad. After he and Jose had Christian they were advised not to have any more children but decided that to complete their family they would adopt a baby girl. That was me! During my childhood I had this fairytale notion that there was huge room full of pink cots and Mum, Dad and Christian walked up and down for hours looking at the all the babies until they eventually chose me. I was always told that I was somehow special as I had been ‘chosen’. I’ve since found out of course, to my huge disappointment, that this wasn’t how it was done at all but it doesn’t change what I believe! However I was chosen, it really doesn’t matter.

What does matter though is that Christian and I were always treated exactly the same and I never felt anything other than a much loved daughter, sister, granddaughter and niece. When our mum died when Christian was 10 and I was 6, Dad worked so hard, with the help of our two grandmother’s, a very special auntie, and then Joan, to provide us with a stable, secure and loving family life.

He kept an adoption file of letters and photos from my birth Mother so that when I started asking questions, as he knew I would, it was all there for me to see. And just to show what a remarkable and selfless man he was, when, at the age of 28 and after having had my second baby and curiosity getting the better of me, I asked him how he would feel if I traced my birth mother, he welcomed the idea with open arms as he did my birth mother when they met a couple of months later.

Not many people get to choose their daughters, but my Mum and Dad did and I am eternally grateful to them both

Steve's Speech

Hi, I`m Steve Mossey and I was Mick’s bridge partner for about 14 years. He was a very good player and we had a lot of success at Hertford Bridge Club. We won several competitions at the club and also at other venues. Probably our biggest success was leading our team of 8 to victory in the Eccles Cup in Hemel Hempstead. We once came second in the Heath Cup, at Hertford Heath, out of about 35 teams of 4...and we won £60! Perhaps our biggest disappointment was coming second in the Club Champions pairs in WGC - we could have won but for throwing the wrong card right at the end of the hand. Although we occasionally pointed out each others mistakes we never had a row or took umbrage.
Apart from bridge we also played golf as a pair a couple of times at Knebworth GC against another bridge pair..we won! I was at Knebworth last Tuesday and spoke to the bar tender...she said that Mick was a lovely bloke and very popular.
Mick was a generous man - he offered me good deals on his old cars...I bought two from him and my wife still drives one. He was also very generous in sponsoring my charitable expeditions. He will be greatly missed.

Geoff's Speech

I did not seek to give this short address and when Anna telephoned me I was initially hesitant but quickly realised I was flattered to be asked to pay a tribute to Michael: I always called him Michael.

We first met about 15 years ago by chance at the Golf Club down the road at Knebworth. We teamed up that day and since then Michael, Roy Shepperd, John Allen my wife Jenny and I played variously together twice a week. So that gave ample time for Michael and me to get to know one another. I know that he would have preferred me to have taken the game more seriously and he would also have preferred a more competitive element. But I have seen how golf can somehow get under the skin and I would not budge. I’m sorry Michael. It was no big deal between us and there was no rancour whatever. Christian and Anna – you may be please to hear also that never ever did so much as a penny change hands as a result of our golf.

In the event none of us, except Jenny perhaps, ever improved much at the game.

I quickly learnt that Michael had a certain gravitas about him which I lack. But we formed a friendship: not close, but one of mutual respect and fondness I believe. I learned about Christian and Anna and met Joan his wife and saw first-hand the fearful jolt the loss of her gave him. Tragically he had had some experience of having to cope.

I learnt also of his interest in bridge at which he was able to exercise his competitive bent. Not without success. I would think bridge suited Michael or was it that Michael suited bridge ?

As the years passed and an arthritic hip, a cluster of heart by-passes and in Michael’s case Parkinson’s disease chose us, 18 holes became 9 and mechanised transport was adopted to carry our clubs and sometimes Michael as well. Then absences from the course were not uncommon. But we continued to meet regularly at the club for a natter over coffee. Michael enjoyed the company although he was not naturally a gregarious man.

Roy Shepperd and John Allen and their wives were especially kind to him and entertained him to supper on occasions. Michael keenly took us all out for a meal by way of thanks.

Eventually his health deteriorated more and he felt unable to play golf. He was reluctant to talk much about his condition but throughout our association I found Michael had a dignity, decency, straight-forwardness and innate sense of fair play in all things which singled him out as a loyal and good friend.

But these last two weeks or so I have learnt that it was not only those qualities with which Michael was blessed.

He was also a courageous and special man.

Alick's Speech

Our mother, Else, was born in Denmark. She became an au-pair in Paris where, in the 1920s, she met our father, Fred, who was English. He worked in the Paris branch of the Bank of London and South America.
Got that?
They had two children while they lived in France, Kir, who was two years older, and Mick, born in Denmark in 1932 as the law was that, being born in France required that you serve French national service.
Mick, I am sure, developed his interest in sport from an early age by watching his parents on the tennis court and our father playing cricket and football at the Paris ex-patriots’ club. As a child, born in 1945, I could not accept that I wasn’t there and claimed to have been lurking just around the corner, out of sight, sucking a green lollipop.
My parents told me that the family enjoyed their time in Meudon, a suburb of SW Paris. For instance, Saturday evening meal was often oysters and bread from the corner shop with a bottle of red wine. This being France, the children had a glass of wine with a little water added.
All good things come to an end, of course. In 1940, Herr Hitler decided that he wanted to invade Paris, and so the exodus began. The family’s escape from France is well chronicled in a letter Fred wrote to a friend at the time and which, fortunately, was returned to us.
Mick, his mother and Kir, had left by train on 25 May 1940 and were staying with friends. About two weeks later, when the bank staff were being evacuated, Fred had to borrow a bicycle in order to meet up with them. After two and a half days pedalling, the family was re-united after he had covered some 200 miles.
The four then travelled by train to Bordeaux where they were to be taken back to England. They were with 25 other refugees, in a cattle truck, covering something like 30 miles in 17 hours until a change of train was needed, for which they waited another whole day.
Eventually, in Bordeaux, whilst the Germans were imposing restrictions nationwide, they had to wait 2 hrs at the Consulate for their paperwork whilst the French staff had their lunch! Eventually, some 9 days after Fred left Paris, they were allowed onto a collier on its way to England, along with 800 others, mainly Polish, and arrived in Falmouth 3 days later.
Fred wrote; “The children behaved admirably all the way. In fact they had the time of their lives clambering up and down and around the ship. And, making themselves thoroughly dirty. We found them making friends, talking away, running about, being made a fuss of by everybody as they were the only children on board.”
In England, they settled in North London. For the next four years of the war, Mick was a typical 8 year old boy, going on 12, getting into scrapes and wearing out his clothes, which could not be replaced, only repaired, time and time again – so much so, he told me, that he was known as “Magic Patches”.
In the 1970s, Mick held a quite senior post with Shell – he had an office to himself, with a window and a carpet. The Shell house magazine published a picture of his desk on which were 14 telephones! These were mainly direct lines to the banks where Shell’s money was on deposit as he was responsible for paying the Arabs for the oil Shell bought. At the time, he was, of course, using a typewriter to keep track of what he was doing and we reckoned that the zero wore out every 6 months.
Eventually, when he retired, he was replaced by a computer and a couple of juniors.

Funeral Quotes

"If I can choose between a death of torture and one that is simple and easy, why should I not select the latter?" As I choose the ship in which I sail and the house which I inhabit, so I will choose the death by which I leave my life"
Seneca

"Love doesn't end with dying
Or leave with the last breath
For someone you've loved deeply
Love doesn't end in death"
Anon

Missing Dad

After the funeral, the reception, after The Handley's came back to St. Albans for tea and left, and after the 'wind-down' had begun at home, I spent a few moments on a chore, totally unrelated to the funeral. A minute or two later I looked up to remind myself that I ought to ring Dad and let him know everything went fine.

It was reminescent of the evening Anna and I started phoning around to inform people of Dad's death, we were having trouble finding Dad's bridge partner's home number. He had recently moved but the there was no new number. I had a good idea, "I'll give Dad a call" I thought.

It is a these moments I miss him the most.

The Funeral

It went very well. The weather was okay. We had about 140 people attend, which was tremendous. The service was decidedly no frills and all the better for it. Here is the order of service:

A Ceremony to Celebrate the Life of
Michael Christopher Barnett
18th May 1932 – 27th September 2008

- - - - - - - -
Music: Debussy – Prélude à l’aprés – midi d’un faune
Words of Welcome
Moments of Remembrance
The Tribute:
Alick Barnett
Geoff Utting
Steve Mossey
Christian & Anna
Music: Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor, Adagio Cantaile
The Farewell
Music: Bach – Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major

Over the next few days I will post more from the service.

Need for Speed

Charlie was wanting to play a computer game and was thinking about shifting through the CD Roms to find what he wanted. Meanwhile I was shifting through the CDs and pulled out what I was looking for, a piece by Shostakovich. As I was looking at the CD case, he asked "Dad, is that Need for Speed you have there".

Soccer

George played his first game for London Road. He came on as sub and played in the midfield. His team won.

Ollie's team also won, 5-3, to beat the team that is purportedly top of the league.

Mick, Anna and Christian