FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS - Reg Hutchinson - Friday 20th November 2009

Here are the details of the funeral arrangements of our Dad, Reg Hutchinson. We would be very grateful if you could spread the word and pass them on to anyone who may wish to know.

10:00 am - Funeral Service at St Mark’s Church, Weston Grove Road, Woolston, Southampton (opposite the Woolston Community Centre where the Solent Folk Festivals took place).
A service celebrating the life of Reg, to which all are welcome.

11:00 am – Interment at St Mary Extra Cemetery, Portsmouth Road, Sholing, Southampton. (This is not being restricted to family only).

11:30 am – We warmly invite you to join us in the rear function room of ‘The Bridge’ public house, Portsmouth Road, Woolston, for refreshments and to share happy memories with us. We would welcome your support if you are able to join us (although we appreciate that many will be at work), and would love you to bring instruments to ‘send Dad off in style’ with happy and lively music and song. (The Bridge is by the Itchen Toll Bridge roundabout in Portsmouth Road. There is a car park at the rear of the pub and entry to the function room is also at the rear.)

Family flowers only. Should you wish to, donations in Dad’s memory for the British Heart Foundation are most welcome and may be sent c/o Co-operative Funeralcare, The Lawns, 461 Butts Road, Sholing, Southampton, SO19 1BZ

Sandy & Sam

I am writing to inform you of the sad loss of another of our club members, this time my beloved father, Reginald Hutchinson, known variously to you all as ‘Dad’ or ‘Pop’ or Reg!

Many of you will remember that Sam and I were at the folk club summer barbecue on 20^th June this year when we received word that Dad wouldn’t be coming as he had bad back pain. The following day he was taken by ambulance to hospital where various tests identified that he had a slipped vertebra at the base of his spine and spondylosis in the cervical area. A resultant MRI scan showed up another problem - an aortic abdominal aneurysm. From there it was one medical problem after another. After a month in the General Hospital, Dad was transferred to a rehab ward at the Royal South Hants. He was there for 3 months learning to walk again etc but still encountering new medical problems. It was Dad’s wish to return home, so that was what the rehab ward staff were working towards. Meanwhile we were preparing his home to be ‘disabled friendly’,  ready for his discharge.

Eventually on 5^th October he was well enough to be released back home with a 4-times-a-day care package. Sam and I moved in with him full-time on a temporary basis  to check that he was coping ok. He was very, very happy to be home and loved his home’s ‘new look’. On his 6^th night at home he fell out of bed and ended up back in A&E where it was discovered that he had soft tissue damage to his hip so, a day or 2 later, he was transferred back to the rehab ward at the RSH. He was just longing to get back to his home and, as he put it, ‘freedom’.

However, late on  5^th Nov, he had severe difficulty breathing and was rushed by ambulance from the rehab ward to resus in A&E. We had a worrying night, but it seemed that he was eventually ‘out of the woods’ and in the early hours of 6th he was admitted to the Medical High Dependency Unit with fluid in his lungs.

At  8.40pm on Sun 8^th Nov Dad passed away peacefully in the HDU, having suffered heart and renal failure. Dad’s spirit was still strong but his poor old body was worn out and telling him it was time to move on.

Although Dad was 87 and thus had had ‘ a good innings’, he was a huge part of Sam’s and my lives so it is obviously a difficult time for us right now. Please bear with us if we are not up to par in our running of the club at the moment. We are aware that we have been ‘somewhat lacking’ over the last few months.

Finally, I would like to thank you all for the love, warmth, kindness and friendship you so generously gave to my father and for your gentle patience in allowing him (indeed, even encouraging him!) to play his old-time dance-band music on his accordion! He loved coming to the club and spending time with ‘folkies’ whom he thought were ‘far nicer than most other people’.  You gave him a lot of joy and he thought of you all as his friends as well as ours!

I would be grateful if you would please pass on the above information to anybody you feel may have known Dad. Details of the funeral arrangements will be notified as soon as they are confirmed but at present the morning of Friday 20^th Nov is pencilled in.

Sandy

"My dear friends,

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the loving messages and offers of support I have received from so many of you since Clive's death.  You are part of a huge support network that has come together, and I want you to know that you have all done your part to make me feel comforted and cared about. I appreciate each and every loving message.  

Thank you also for your donations to Clive's charity of choice, Hampshire Air Ambulance, which totalled £610.00.

It's time for me to get out and about and when we meet up, either at the folk club or elsewhere, please don't be afraid to talk to me about Clive - we all need to remember and celebrate his life.  Don't hold back with the positive messages and thoughts which will enable me to move forward.

With much love and appreciation,

Stephie"

Stephie would be very happy to see anyone who wants to come, would be strengthened by their support, and deeply comforted by their presence.

FUNERAL:

East Chapel, SOUTHAMPTON CREMATORIUM (Please click for directions)
Monday 2nd February 2009 at 3pm

RECEPTION:

The funeral will be followed by a short reception at
The Old House At Home, Romsey from 4pm 'til 5pm

TRIBUTES:

Donations to the HAMPSHIRE AIR AMBULANCE in place of floral tributes would be appreciated.

However over the last couple of years Clive and Stephie have undergone an insurmountable number of challenges and their attendance at the club necessarily, but sadly, became far less frequent. The last time they came to the club was on Sunday 4th January to support the guest band Anam Cara. It was on that occasion that Stephie told us that they hoped that things would ease off soon so that they could get back to the club more often and she referred to Clive as 'her rock'.

Clive was a lovely, lovely man who will be sorely missed by many, none more so than his beloved wife Steph to whom our heartfelt sympathies are extended. Our love and thoughts and prayers are with and for you Steph.

Funeral arrangements will be posted here as soon as we hear.

Sandy & Sam