The last Will and Testament

By Barbara Thomas

Hold up your hands how many reading this now have actually made out a Will

Let me tell you about one specific person who never left a Will and on dying therefore was not able to instruct how he wanted his funeral either burial/cremation Christian or Humanitarian

But the main object of the Will was to find out who was down as his next of kin.

Being a ladies man this man had a chequered past married twice with at least 3 common law wives plus a scattering of lady friends.

You can see the predicament, to whom or who will receive his worldly gifts.

Also without a Will who will pick up the tab?

I’ll help you out, you see it was our son who passed away suddenly.

During his working life he had been on the river Thames as a waterman worked at a timber mill, as a bus driver, taxi driver,

And manager at both his father and aunt’s pubs.

At the time of his untimely death he had been working with mentally ill patients in a residential setting near where he lived with a girlfriend in Catford, South London. 

Unfortunately, he had been found outside his workplace unconscious, and died still in a coma 3 days later. He had suffered a massive heart attack and because he wasn’t found for one hour he received severe and irreversible brain damage and the life machine was switched off by two of his four children on July 2nd 2021.

Heartbroken my husband and I tried to make sense of it all as he was only 58 years old.

Then reality set in. Who was going to pay for the funeral, as we now know there was no Will.

It fell on both my husband and I to contact solicitors and ask for advice

As I mentioned our Steve loved the ladies but where was the second wife and had they divorced?

The current ladyfriend made big ripples, I had to freeze all his bank and credit cards as at first she was having a great time spending

We were advised to become Executors,

giving us the authority to look into any life insurances Steve may have had. I texted, phoned emailed determined to collect some monies somehow.

There were papers galore I had to collate including Bank statements to check, the list goes on.

We had some luck when a family member remembered where the last wife used to live, we followed the lead and it turned out that this wife had never moved out of the home she had shared with our son and they had never divorced, apparently she told us Steve used to often visit her.

So now we have next of kin, who legally could claim anything she liked only she didn’t want to be involved. They had only been married 1 year before they parted

More problems once we had contacted her we were then only errand boys.

Our hands were tied so we went back to the solicitors and paid another £1,000 for Deed of variation to allow us to intervene for the reluctant next of Kin. 

Then came the funeral, his harem all wanted a piece of him, there was a lot of bad feeling, especially from Steve’s latest lady friend

I put my foot down and said as his parents we would be picking up the tab and the funeral would not become a circus but a celebration of a life gone before his time. 

The funeral went as well as could be expected some even said it was lovely with all the funny anecdotes that Steve got up to plus all the tunes we knew he loved especially at the end “I’m for ever blowing bubbles” he would have loved that being an ardent West Ham supporter all his life like his Dad and Grandad before him. 

The wake was interesting to say the least women eyeballing each other. Oh Steve we had no idea you were such a ladies man. 

I discovered a life insurance “hurrah“ followed by monies from his days as a bus driver. 

Now the monies at last was coming in the outstanding bills were being paid out. Alas not much savings for all those years of working hard, Steve lived for the day. There were credit agreements although sadly did not die at his demise.

It’s ok getting a credit agreement but you never know how your circumstances will be over a length of time and this is what we had to cope with.

A Will would have saved us the stress that we went through at that period.

 

So my message to all you people what ever walk of life please find out about making a Will.

Find time otherwise it may fall on your loved one’s shoulders. 

Apparently I am told you do not have to go to a solicitor as long it is signed witnessed-and dated.

Leave getting a Will at your peril!! 

Copyright Barbara Thomas

 

 

In the year of our Lord 1603 

By Barbera Thomas 

13 men secretly gathered in one of the dark taverns in London Town.

The main speaker was Robert Catesby who seemed to have commandeered the group.

These were catholics sharing the same hatred of King James 1st but also knowing that at anytime King James 1st’s guards could come crashing in and arrest them all, firstly breaking curfew secondly being a Catholic which in a mainly Protestant country would always be treated with suspicion.

Robert Catesby wasn’t from London, as were several others of the would be traitors.

But each had one goal, to blow up the Houses of Parliament, kill the king and replace him with the Spanish king.

During the evening the men were given their jobs.

One of those men was Guy Fawkes,

recently recruited, soon after coming to London.

 

Unlike the other men Guy Fawkes had been a soldier in the army against the Netherlands and also knowingly spoke openly against King James 1st who he wanted to replace with the King of Spain.

 

He had knowledge and technical knowhow of placing gunpowder he was seen as a bonus among the men gathered there.

The date was eventually decided would be the the 5th November 1605.

 

As they scuttled away back to their homes

Guy Fawkes lingered behind.

As Robert Catesby was clearing away he glanced up and saw Fawkes standing there.

Between them there was an instant bond for here was a man willing to die for the cause.

Robert Catesby was well known to both Parliament and king for his views against both and was monitored regularly.

 

Robert Catesby immediately made Fawkes his second in command.

 

On the night of the 5th it had just stopped raining which was a relief to the collaborators as during the weeks before, barrels of gunpowder had been brought in and stored beneath the Houses of Parliament these were bought through a tunnel that had been dug out by Guy Fawkes (who had changed his name to John Johnson for whatever reason only known to him) the property was owned by Catesby which he had required for the sole reason of his men to climb through un-noticed to the bowels of Parliament.

 

But the deed was not to be as unknown to the other 12 men, there was one man who had doubts and anonymously sent a letter to William Parker 4th Baron Monteagle Catholic member of Parliament.

On receiving this terrible letter and not fully understanding its full meaning, the Baron immediately rode to London and handed the letter to a Member of Parliament none other than Cecil, the then Earl of Salisbury whereby the Gun Powder Plot was thwarted.

 

Below is the letter that saved both the King, Parliament, and the country:

 

“My Lord, out of love I bear to some of

your friends I have a care of your preservation. Therefore I would advise you, as you tender your life to devise some excuse to shift your attendance at this Parliament; for God and man have concurred to punish the wickedness of this time. And think not slightly of this advertisement but retire Yourselves into your country where you may expect the event in safety for though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow this Parliament; and yet they shall not see who hurts them. This counsel is not to be condemned because it may do you good and could and can do you no harm; for the danger is passed as soon as you have burnt this letter. And I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it, to whose holy protection I commend you 

Action was taken, instantly.

The Kings army was sent below the cellars of Parliament immediately but all they found was Guy Fawkes, he was arrested on the spot and dragged out into the open, taken to the Tower of London and tortured for days until he confessed, then taken to the old Palace yard of Westminster and as he climbed with great difficulty up the stairs Guy Fawkes suddenly threw himself off the scaffold and immediately died from a broken neck thereby escaping the terrible ordeal of being disembowelled whilst still alive. Although his body was disembowelled and sent to the 4 corners of the kingdom after death. 

His partner in crime had been urged to abandon the plan but chose to ignore the advice days before.

But once he had heard that Guy Fawkes had been discovered, he galloped as quick as he could back to his country home in Holbeche joined by some of the 13 would be assassins.

 

It was decided that each would stand their ground where they stood, against the might of the Kings men and their weaponry.

 

The Kings men arrived and both Robert Catesby and his men fought gallantly side by side.

He and another papist took the full blast of a cannon ball.

 

Robert Catesby’s family, although shocked, secretly collected the body, but this was discovered and while making preparations for the funeral, the Kings soldiers rode up dragged Catesby’s body out on the ground then disembowelled and hacked the head off which was taken and put on a spike to be displayed on the highest part of the roof in the Houses of Parliament in Westminster square London for all to see as a reminder that that is what happens to enemies of the crown.

 

People were shocked and when the 5th of November came round the next year 1606 an effigy of Guy Fawkes would be paraded throughout the streets of London.

When it became dark bonfires were burnt as a reminder of what could have happened but thankfully thwarted surprisingly through an anonymous letter.

To this day the tradition carries on with the added bonus of fireworks.

 

Chants were sang:

Remember, remember the 5th of November

Gun powder, treason and plot. For there is no

reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot

 

Also I discovered a poem named: 

The night Poem

Guy Fawkes, ‘‘twas his intent to blow up

King and Parliament

Three score barrels were laid

Below To prove old England’s other-throw

By God’s mercy he was catches

With a dark lantern and lighted match,

Holler boys, Holler boys, let the bells ring

Holler boys Holler boys

God Save the king

 

Halloween 

A small child asks her Mother a question.

“Why do children wear witches and wizards clothes and knock on neighbours doors on Halloween night carrying pumpkin buckets asking the question “treacle or treat”

If it’s treat we would be given sweets but if they choose treacle we have to recite a poem or song” 

The mother thought for a while and then told the child that in ancient times there were people called “Pagans” these were people who believed in different Gods who were sun worshippers and the devil

Their beliefs through the decades were transformed into folklore of the unknown and fear of the dead.

“Yes Mother” the young child asked

“But that still doesn’t answer why we dress up on that night”

The mother tried to explain without frightening her child.

“The belief was that if people dressed up in strange clothes, they could chase away bad spirits from their homes”.

This day in our calendar is the 31st October also known in the holy bible as “All Souls’ Day “ where it was believed in ancient times that bad spirits would visit the homes that they had once lived in.

That’s why people dressed up to frightened the spirits away.

It was believed that the souls that died in sin would forever be cast away in purgatory, This means souls were forever restless.

By you and other children going from house to house you are frightening away these spirits.

The sweet treats that you have now are to make sure you do not visit their house again.” 

The child then put on her scary makeup and put on her witches dress picked up her sweetie bucket and set off with her friends to visit her neighbours houses.

This made me think about both Robert Catesby and Guy Fawkes as their souls did not have the churches holy sacraments, in a christian funeral or burial from any Father of the Cloth therefore in the believers eyes forever in purgatory.

I would like to think that both their families would have prayed that their relative be forgiven for all their sins and ask God for forgiveness and contrition so to allow their restless souls to enter the kingdom of God

“Only our maker knows”

 

Copyright Barbara Thomas