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IN LOVING MEMORY
OF
ARTHUR BULLOCK

28TH JUNE, 1928 – 25TH JUNE, 2016

ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, PEMBROKE

FRIDAY, 1ST JULY, 2016, 3:00 PM

ORDER OF SERVICE

Officiating: The Rt. Rev. Nicholas Dill
Bishop of Bermuda

Organist: Norman Brown

PRELUDE

WELCOME AND OPENING PRAYER

OPENING HYMN

Here I Am Lord

I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin
my hand will save.
I who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?

Refrain
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them;
they turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my word to them.
Whom shall I send?
Refrain

I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will tend the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them,
My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide
till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?
Refrain

SCRIPTURE READING
Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1 - 14
read by Justin Collis

A Time for Everything

1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
2 A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4 A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.
5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
6 A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do people really get for all their hard work?
10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all.
11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
12 So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.
13 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
14 And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.
15 What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.

READING
“Death is Nothing At All” by Henry Scott-Holland
read by Richard Collis

Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.

Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.

All is well.
Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

REMEMBRANCES OF ARTHUR
by Judy Collis - Daughter

Shortly before 2 am on Saturday morning, 25th June, my Dad closed his eyes one last time, and ascended to a better place.

Over the past few weeks as I watched my father slowly slip away, I knew that I would soon be standing before you faced with this daunting task of summing up 88 years of a life well lived and of a man well loved. I had feared my father’s passing more than anything in the world, fearful that he would feel alone, fearful that he would be scared . What a load of wasted emotion. He was never alone and he was not fearful. He had his quiet faith. He knew that my mother and I were by his side supported by John, as always, comforted by Marivic and Imelda. He also knew that his beloved grandsons and their adored girlfriends were there, if not physically in thought and prayer.

He faced/ tackled his last act on earth as he faced his life, with strength, with determination, with dignity, with laughter and sometimes with his Geordie temper. To the end, he managed to be the life of the party, the centre of attention as he often was in his heyday! On one of his last visits to the house to see my Dad, I saw the bemused look on Doctor West's face as he was greeted, by my mother, Marivic, Imelda and Me. I am sure he was thinking What on earth has Arthur done in life to deserve the attention of not only one, but four women!!! ??? The attention never stopped!!

Born in Northumberland in a small mining village, the only son of Jim and Sally Bullock, he was pre deceased by two older sisters. Born at home and weeks premature, I believe he began his life as he lived it, determined to embrace and enjoy it all. My sister in law's Irish family, has a saying "We are not here for a long time, we are here for a good time and I believe my Dad had a pretty good crack at both !!"

As a child he lived in a house with his grandparents, parents, an Aunt and 4 Uncles. A house provided by the mine in which they all worked. Although it was war time and times were tough my Dad always looked back on his childhood and early adulthood with joy/pleasure, regaling my boys with stories of all his childhood adventures - German air raids, being huddled in the bomb shelter in the back garden and searching for incendiary devices the morning after a raid. My boys loved these stories.

Schooling for my Dad in that small mining village was hit and miss. Afterall, it was war time and all able bodied men and women were needed for the war effort Teachers went off to fight or were called to the shipyards and to the munitions factories. Classes were often cancelled (for days, sometimes weeks) For my Dad, never one to sit idle, this meant more time for fun and adventure with his mates. As a young boy this was terrific and no reason to complain.

In fact, I never heard him complain about this time as a loss of opportunity for himself but I know he felt it because he was always determined that I would benefit from a good education. In fact, so determined was he that I not give up my schooling, that when John asked for his permission to marry me, he bent a fork and said No. At the time I was in my first year of law school. It took John the rest of the meal to persuade my Dad that our getting married was a good idea and that I would finish school. I am surprised that John stuck around after that encounter. Thankfully, he wasn't put off and he very quickly secured a place in my Dad's heart, and he and my Dad shared a very special bond, like father and son.
My Dad left school at 14. On leaving, he had two choices or so he thought ... Work the mines or work in the shipyards and learn a trade.

My grandparents and Dad's uncles had a big part to play in His decision. My grandfather had been trapped in the mine and rescued, He had lost fingers and toes in explosions and sadly, he and everybody else in the village had lost good friends. The apple of the family's eye, Wor Arthur, wor bairn, ( I hope the Geordies forgive my lousy accent) wasn't going down the mine. So he became an apprentice shipwright.

His mentor was a tough task master, scolding him for every mistake. Although, I doubt that my Dad thought so at the time, this was a fortuitous pairing. This tough mentor turned out to be my Mother's uncle. Not only was he grooming my Dad to be a first class shipwright but also perhaps as a potential match for his niece. In due course, he asked my Dad to join the family for tea saying that he had a "smashing young lass "he wanted him to meet. At the same time his wife was asking their young niece to join them, saying she had a "smashing young lad coming for tea"

I gather that this first meeting between the 17 year old Arthur Bullock and the 16 year old Doreen Allman wasn't a huge success - she thought he was a flirt and he thought she was a snob. But thankfully, there was a second meeting and a few dances which eventually led to a marriage proposal and 67 years of marriage. I bet uncle Harry is shaking my Dad's hand now and saying "I told you she was a smashing lass"

My Dad didn't finish his apprenticeship at that shipyard. He was conscripted and joined the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers, known as the REME. He was sent overseas and spent time in Germany, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Tel Aviv and Mombassa. Mopping up after the war"" he used to say. In Mombasa he was put in charge of a small group tasked with building part of the road to Nairobi. He used to tell this story regularly to the family. Years later on a family safari, as we were all bouncing along the road, to Nairobi, Somebody was overheard teasing my Dad saying "you didn't do a very good job on this road Arthur." My Dad roared with laughter and said “I did the best I could as I always do”. He loved the banter and he loved this noisy and loving family that I had married in to and which made him and my mother feel so loved and welcomed.

Shortly before the end of his service, he was stationed in Egypt and, there, with the REMI he completed his apprenticeship.

On his return to Northumberland, he joined R. A. Parsons, an engineering outfit, and was part of the team tasked with working on and delivering turbine engines for the Battersea power station. Travelling into London on the Gatwick express I often look at the Battersea power station and imagine my Dad as a young man working there.

It was during this time that my Dad got the notion to travel farther afield. One evening he and my mother got together with one of her work colleagues and husband who was a carpenter on the Ocean Monarch. My parents wanted to buy a house and that evening my Dad was persuaded that joining the merchant navy would be a sure and quick way to earn the down payment for their house. So he joined Furness Withy as a carpenter and was assigned to the Queen of Bermuda, journeying weekly from NY to Bermuda.

My mom applied for and got a job at The Bermuda Telephone Company, packed her bags and followed my Dad across the Atlantic to Bermuda. Another wonderful chapter of their lives was underway and the start of many life-long friendships here on the Island.

Deposit secured, house bought, my Dad didn't leave the merchant navy as had been the original plan. Instead he spent 12 years on the Queen of Bermuda and only left because she was to be scrapped. As a Company man he was asked to work on one of Furness Withy's oil tankers. He didn't much fancy that. So he "jumped ship", as we used to tease him, before the Queen’s last voyage and went to work in St. George's at Meyer's boat yard. He was there until he retired.
By then he had his three grandsons to dote on and the master carpenter skills came out with a vengeance. Between golf games, some trips to faraway places and many dinners with his band of very close friends who called themselves the "Terrible Ten"...he made rocking horses, banjos, stilts, boats, even a motorized car for the boys to drive modeled after a Morgan. He couldn't do enough for them. His face would light up when they walked in to the room and he had the same reaction when he saw their faces every time they skyped.

As many of you know, my Dad was a terrific ball room dancer and in my mother he found a great partner. Unfortunately, my Dad's skills as a dancer skipped this generation...as hard as he tried he just couldn't teach me ...I have two left feet and no rhythm at all. Such a shame. However, I was so proud when people admired how effortlessly my parents moved across the dance floor, always in time, always together. The way they danced is perhaps a metaphor of how they lived their lives together- with a quick step here (on my Dad’s part) and a little twist there ( on my mom’s part) it all worked.
The music playing as we all came in were some of my Dad's favorites and the last hymn that we will sing pays tribute to his love of dance. I hope that you will sing with as much enthusiasm as he had when he and my mom took to the dance floor. Don't hold back coz he definitely wouldn't.

Over the past few days we have been overwhelmed by the kind messages that we have received from family and friends both here and abroad. Many of the messages have a consistent theme referring to my Dad’s sense of humor, his spunkiness, his independence, his integrity, his energy, and his skill as a carpenter. All refer to his fierce love of my mother, John and I and of course his beloved grandsons. Your messages serve to remind us that my Dad’s life was full of the "important" things- family and friends and that we were fortunate to have had such a loving husband, father and grandfather in our lives.

I ask you all to pray for my mother as she struggles with her loss, always reminding her that although we mourn today we have every reason to celebrate a life well lived and a man well-loved and that she can take great comfort in knowing, that my Dad is currently quizzing St Peter on where he can get a good set of power tools and a nice quiet spot to get started.

God Bless Him!

POEM
“About Our Grandfather, Poppa B”
read by Alexander Collis

I knew this man, so strong and tall,
With the kindest heart of them all.
From Geordie land, he came by sea,
To the devil isles with his family.

Here they settled, here they stayed,
At Spanish Point, their home they made.
Island life they all embraced,
Coral Beach became a favourite place.

There they dinnered, there they danced,
His spirit left that place enhanced.
As he spun his wife around the floor,
His eyes did twinkle all the more.

Known for style, known for class,
His fashion sense was one to last.
The best dressed man, for all around,
A more stylish man could not be found.

He fixed up boats with clever hands,
He could make anything, all demands.
He did such a good job on 4s Co,
A mutiny ensued, what a blow.

He liked simple tastes, not a spice in sight,
Pork as food, was not worth a fight.
Well done steaks were a winner,
Chickens as pets, not for dinner.

All that said, he was rather partial,
To a scotch and soda, oh the rascal!
A Creme brûlée was a restaurant's test,
It better be good or even the best.

As time went on, they were more than three,
To keep things simple, they became 'the B's'.
And then came grandsons, oh what fun,
He got to know us, one by one.

An expert grandpa he became,
Keeping us happy was his aim.
What he made for us, three young boys,
Rocking horses and other toys.

Memories of being a younger lad,
He shared with us some of those he had.
Like a neighbour with which he used to hang,
Who had a dog, called Mr Chang.

As we grew he taught us tricks,
In case we broke things we had to fix.
Like filling holes in bathroom walls,
Or mending surf boards when we had falls.

Our poor dear poppa, we pushed his limits,
We ignored the things he tried to prohibit.
We spun his car, round and round,
And returned it empty, but full of sand.

A golf ball was launched at his head,
We held our breath, in instant dread.
He didn't like it when I drove too fast,
He would look at me, rather aghast.

We didn't inherit his gift to jive,
But how lucky to have him in our lives.
Nothing made him happier see,
Than spending time with his family.

And now it's hard, coz he is gone,
But he'd want us happy, he'd want us strong.
He will always be missed, but you know what he'd say,
Go and have fun, make the most of today.

HYMN
Eternal Father Strong to Save

WORDS OF COMFORT
Rt. Rev. Nicholas Dill

PRAYERS AND THE LORD’S PRAYER

COMMENDATION AND BLESSING

CLOSING HYMN

Lord of the Dance

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
and I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
and I came down from Heaven and I danced on the earth;
at Bethlehem I had my birth

Chorus:
Dance then wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance said he,
and I'll lead you all, wherever you may be,
and I'll lead you all in the dance, said he.

I danced for the scribe and the pharisee,
but they would not dance and they wouldn't follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and John;
they came with me and the dance went on.
Chorus

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black;
it's hard to dance with the devil on your back.
They buried my body and they thought I'd gone;
but I am the dance and I still go on.
Chorus

They cut me down and I leap up high;
I am the life that'll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you'll live in me:
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
Chorus

INTERMENT

PALLBEARERS
Alexander Collis, Richard Collis, Justin Collis, Charlie Collis, Ben Collis, Graham Watts

The family sincerely appreciates the support shown here today and cordially invite you to join them at "Saltcoats" 10 Keith Hall Road, Warwick for a time of reflection and refreshment following the service.