Latest news with #sendoff
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Strangers give Hull veteran, 102, a 'heartwarming' send-off
Dozens of strangers came together to give an Army veteran "a nice send-off" after he died aged 102 without close relatives. Neighbours of William Darnell, from Hull, launched an appeal to ensure he was not "alone on his final journey".Ex-serviceman Tony Irwin, 85, was among dozens of people who responded. He said: "We always come to pay our respect to any veterans, especially ones with no families. They just need us to give them a good send off." Funeral director Nicola Mortimer said: "It's heartwarming and lovely to see so many people turned out for a gentleman they didn't know, to recognise what he did for his country." Mr Darnell, from the Holderness Road area of the city, served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical his death, his neighbour Joanne Barlow contacted Hull4Heroes, a charity that supports veterans, in the hope of providing him with a good charity issued an appeal on social media, urging people to attend. Ms Mortimer said: "It would have been really sad if he was by himself. It's quite heartbreaking when something like that happens, especially someone his age and after what he's done for the country. "He deserves a nice send-off, and that's what he got today from strangers." Sgt Ross Melon was among members of 21 Engineer Regiment, based in Ripon, who saw the Hull4Heroes appeal and attended the funeral "to give Bill the send-off he deserved". "We all feel duty-bound and honoured to come and speak and witness his celebration of life," he said. Maureen Robinson attended the funeral after seeing the post online and deciding she should be able to "spend 10 minutes to come here and pay my respects for somebody who did everything for us". She added: "He didn't know me as I wasn't born when he served, but he did everything he could for everybody else. I've been crying already, I just think the turnout's amazing."I'm sure he would be proud." Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
My sister's shock death at 34 was devastating. So at 42 I'm already planning my budget funeral - including the trick to save my family £3,601 on my burial
The cost of a basic funeral has hit an all-time high of £4,285, and families end up paying more than twice that on average, once additional costs such as the wake and flowers are included. But not my family. I've planned my own send off – and it'll be cheap as chips. I'm only 42 years old and in good health. But I have attended more than my fair share of funerals and planned a couple, too, which made me realise that I didn't want some extravagant funeral that comes just about as close as you can get to simply burning money.
