Jessica's final journey

Yesterday’s celebration of Jessica’s life was everything that we wanted it to be for her. A beautiful sunshine day, surrounded by family, friends and love, sharing memories of a little girl who touched so many people’s hearts. It was a day of both sadness and smiles, laughter and tears and was a fitting tribute to our little miracle.

Photo taken by Charlie Pugh

We were able to spend some time with Jessica in the last couple of days before her funeral. Being able to sit with her, to hold her hand, look at her beautiful little face and give her kisses, to read some of her favourite stories to her and to tuck her in one last time with her Kerry snuggled next to her was such precious time.


Jessica arrived at our home for the last time at 12.30pm. The three of us, along with Jessica’s grandparents followed her to the church for the celebration of her life. The service was led by our minister Nick. Nick’s first service at our church was two days before Jessica was born. We are glad that he was able to lead her last service at church, having known her throughout her short life.

It was a beautiful service. Jessica’s godparents Bryan and Nicki shared our chosen Bible readings. Michael and I shared our memories of our little girl with her special heart, reflecting on how she taught us to live life to the full and enjoy every moment. We have so many happy memories to look back on and we are thankful for them all. Jessica’s godmother Katy shared a poem she had written as a tribute to Jessica. Jessica’s reception teacher, Miss James, shared some memories of Jessica at school and Stephanie, the Girls’ Brigade Captain, shared her memories of Jessica at Girls’ Brigade. These were followed by a video showing photos of Jessica throughout her life, interspersed with a couple of video clips of her, and finishing with one where she takes a final bow. The way she used to bow after doing a dance, or a show always used to make us smile. It felt like the right way to end the video sharing memories of her life.

Photo taken by Charlie Pugh

After the service, Jessica’s pink heart-covered casket was carried to the meeting area in the church to allow people to say their last goodbyes to her. The church was absolutely packed. A huge thank you to Michael’s colleagues for setting up screens and a sound relay into the meeting area and side room to ensure that those attending were still very much part of the service even though we couldn’t fit everyone into the chapel, Tracey who organised the refreshments and beautiful cake display and the church staff and stewards who helped make everything run smoothly. We only had a short time at the church before we had to leave for GreenAcres and we didn’t manage to speak to everyone who attended. Thank you so much to everyone who came – we certainly felt surrounded by your love and support even if we weren’t able to speak to you in person.

Photo taken by Charlie Pugh

We were honoured to have a police and TFL escort holding the traffic to help the first part of Jessica’s journey from church to her final resting place at GreenAcres.

The service at GreenAcres was a much more intimate one with Jessica surrounded by the closest members of our family, her godparents and a couple of our close friends who had been a significant part of her journey. Nick led the beautiful brief service at the graveside, with godmummy Gillian sharing a poem before Jessica was laid to rest in her forever bed. We each threw in a pretty flower for her and Sophie pressed the button to start the bubble machine. She and Jessica always loved trying to catch bubbles in the garden together. As Sophie gave Jessica her flower and tossed in a little handful of earth, she waved and said “bye, bye Jessica.” Throughout the service at church, and the one at GreenAcres, she was a little superstar.

Photo taken by Charlie Pugh

Photo taken by Charlie Pugh

We were welcomed by our family and friends shortly afterwards at Chalfont St Peter Community Centre where we shared memories of Jessica over sandwiches, cakes and cups of tea. It was lovely to be able to spend time with family and friends and remember our little girl.


We have been so touched by all the little things that have been done so far in Jessica’s memory, and those that are planned. Sophie’s preschool has created a garden area for the children with pretty flowers, a bench, butterflies and dragonflies and called it “Jessica’s garden”. Jessica’s school held a day for her – “Jessica’s day” – the day before her funeral where the children came dressed as princes and princesses and had a balloon release in her memory. It made us smile to see one of the male teachers dressed in a princess dress for Jessica. He will be Sophie’s teacher next year when she starts in the same reception class that her sister was in.

Thank you to everyone who came to Jessica’s celebration, who have shared messages of love and support on our social media, or who have simply been holding us in prayer over these last few weeks. Thank you also to those who were involved with the arrangements yesterday and helped make that final journey an easier one. Yesterday was a tough day, but we felt so surrounded by love throughout. You all did Jessica proud and made her send-off a truly beautiful and special one. This morning has been harder still – having to start facing the reality of life without Jessica without having the focus of her funeral to distract us.


I had originally intended for this to be the final post in Jessica’s blog as her last journey. However, her story is still a little unfinished. We are still waiting for the final results of the post-mortem and so her cause of death remains unknown. It may be that the results are inconclusive but we will update this blog when we are able to share this piece of information about Jessica’s journey and if there are any future stories to share about the things that are being done in Jessica’s memory. The stories of our life as a family and our own journey through our grief will still continue over on Louise’s blog at https://littleheartsbiglove.co.uk

Jessica's funeral details

We have been busy over the last week making arrangements for Jessica’s final journey. It has been incredibly tough and reality has hit us very hard at times. We have chosen the spot for Jessica’s forever bed at GreenAcres, picked out her casket and the last set of clothes she will wear and started to consider the details for the service celebrating her life. We can now confirm the timings and location for the celebration and wake, which are as follows:

Celebration of Jessica’s life

Friday 18th May 2018, 1pm at Christ Church, Redford Way, Uxbridge UB8 1SZ

Tea and coffee will be available after the service

Please note that the church car park will be reserved for blue badge holders and the close family members who will be attending Jessica’s burial at GreenAcres.


There is plenty of parking available nearby. The nearest car parks to the church are the Sainsburys car park and the Cedars car park. You can park in Sainsburys for a maximum of 2 hours for £2. Please note that there is ANPR in this car park so don’t exceed the maximum stay of 2 hours. The Cedars car park costs £1.40 for 2 hours for non-Hillingdon residents. There is no maximum stay in this car park, other than being limited to car park opening times (it closes in the evening after the shops shut). There is also on-street parking on Belmont Road although this is very expensive, especially for non-Hillingdon residents and the meters have a tendency to swallow coins. We’d advise parking in Sainsburys or the Cedars instead.


For those coming by public transport, Christ Church is opposite the bus station and Uxbridge underground station. If you are coming by train, you need to exit the station by the side entrance (heading towards the bus station) rather than the High Street entrance.


We would like to ask for donations to Little Hearts Matter instead of any flowers please. The JustGiving page that was set up previously by one of Louise's blogging friends has now closed, but we have set up another JustGiving page if you would like to donate through this.

Jessica’s burial

This will take place at GreenAcres at 3pm and will be a private service for the immediate family and Jessica’s godparents.

Wake

You are welcome to join us for the wake following the celebration of Jessica’s life. This will be held at Chalfont St Peter Community Centre, Gravel Hill, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks, SL9 9QX from 3pm. Tea and coffee and refreshments will be available here.


There is an on-site car park at the community centre and parking is free here. If this car park is full, there is a nearby car park in Church Lane. There is a charge for parking in the Church Lane car park which you can pay at the machines or by mobile phone.


One of Michael's colleagues will be providing minibus transport from the church to Chalfont St Peter Community Centre if you are coming by public transport - thank you Oliver!


If you are thinking of joining us for the celebration of Jessica’s life and/or the wake afterwards, please could you let us know by filling in a very short form here if you haven’t already done so. This is just so we have an idea of what numbers we can expect to help us with some of the practical arrangements.We would also like to ask that people avoid wearing dark coloured clothing if possible.



Thank you for continuing to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We are very much taking things moment by moment right now and trying to get through each day as best we can.