It is always a little hard to talk of or write about death. But it remains the one certainty of life – that it will end with death. True, Benjamin Franklin added taxes as a certainty as well and we suppose that for humans in most parts of the world some kind of taxation is inevitable but really death remains the one absolute certainty.
Funerals are expensive. In October 2015 the BBC reported that the cost of a funeral had risen to £3700. If we compare that with the cost of a Market Lavington funeral in 1964, it does seem that costs have outstripped the value of money. Here is a bill for a funeral back in January 1964.
Funeral bill for Emily Letitae Pomeroy 1963/64
The funeral needs were provided by Gye’s the builders and carpenters who had been trading under the name of Tom Gye’s mother Mrs L E Gye. The job was done for £46 – 12 – 0. That recent figure of 3700 would pay for about 72 funerals at this 1964 price.
We have no further information about the deceased here – Emily Letitae Pomeroy.
Market Lavington Museum 
February 4, 2016 at 10:04 am |
This lady was my gradma, Emily Hobbs, who ran the Workman’s Hall for many years and retired to Fern Cottage in the high street. She was the mother of Harry Hobbs who worked for Fred Sayer and later ran the grocery business opposite the Green Dragon. Also the mother of Elsie Hobbs, my mum, who worked for Waltons, now Gemini. See the staff photo on this blog Jan 2nd this year.
There is a photo of my gran on the blog with Beavy Pomeroy, her second husband, June 19th 2014 round the back of the house next to Fern Cottage with other neighbours.
February 4, 2016 at 10:19 am |
Sorry, spelt grampy Pom’s (as we used to call him) name wrong. He was Beavey Farrell Pomeroy who was the baker for the Co-op.