Hi All, Not the kind of event that I thought (hoped) I would ever Report Back on, but I thought that something should be said about Liz's funeral, which was held on Friday afternoon outside in the Essex countryside. A very large number of people attended, comprised of Liz's family & friends, Rob's family & friends, Liz's friends from Oxford, people from this list* & from the ILE community. The proceedings were lead by Liz's uncle, and a lot of sad & wonderful things were said about Liz or read by her Mum, her Dad, her sister, her cousin, Rob, Rob's Mum and a couple of Liz's fellow students from St Hilda's. Jim read a message that Honey had sent. Several pieces of music were played, reflecting the wide range of Liz's musical talents & interests. I learned a lot from what was said, how much more talented & special a person Liz was than I was ever aware of (including oarswoman & rifle shot amongst her accomplishments!). The occasion was heartbreaking, to think of Liz being taken from her family and friends at such an early age, that Rob and her should have spent so few years together. However, there was also an enormous feeling of love for Liz, joy at celebrating her life and its achievements and even some humour. The ceremony was not at all rushed as some such occasions can be, people had sufficient time for reflection and to express their feelings. The spot itself is very peaceful, as can be seen from some pictures here http://www.green-burial.co.uk . Liz is laid to rest in a meadow, under the eves of a wood which with new planting will eventually extend over the grave. The wood becomes carpeted with bluebells in the spring and the site is very tranquil, with no traffic noise and on a rise so that there is a great view over the green countryside. Although the occasion was informal I thought it was a great sign of respect for Liz that not only did so many people attend but also that they had gone to the trouble of wearing (in some cases acquiring, I think!) dark suits & ties. Its a long time since I have seen so many Sinisterines in one place at the same time and its so sad that they should have been brought together for this reason - I recall seeing Rob, Marianna, Ken, Ben & Rachel Apps, Archel & Mr Archel, Ian, Stefano, Robin Stout, Lucy, Ailsa, Cabbage & Miss Vicky, Mark C & Sarah, Tim, Ally C, Stacey Dahling, Pam, Jim, Lixi & Steve, Carsmile Steve & Meg, Andy Dean, Starry, Nick. Apologies for my writing, which is not up to capturing the emotion of the occasion, and if I have left anyone or anything out that I should have included. A lot of tributes have been written to Liz in various places recently - I hope that the love that Liz inspired in others is some comfort to those close to her. Here are a few more things that have come to my mind in the last few days. She was such a very talented person, musically as an instrumentalist & singer, whether as part of or directing a choir or covering Blondie's 'Heart Of Glass' backed by The Johnny 7 before one of B&S's Astoria gigs a couple of years ago. I also recall her installation which formed part of an exhibition at The Roundhouse in 2001 which she described as "a big wibbly projection type thing" or an "abstract slide thing projected onto a big piece of perspex" - whatever, even if I wasn't clever enough to understand its meaning the intellect and ingenuity that had gone into its production was manifest. Her kindness, always thinking of others & finding ways to include them, at picnics bringing loads of food to share, her delicious home baking. She once wrote It's our glorious idiosyncracies that mark us as such wonderful people and certainly lived up to that herself, signing off e-mails to me with Must go make etchings or talking of going off to decorate a cake for a friend or to go for a snowball fight. I will treasure our common enthusiasms, especially for certain artists. We both love Sodastream and she once spoke of kidnapping Pete & Karl & keeping them in her cellar to write songs to play for her & her mum - then her strong practical sense realised that the damp would play havoc with the tuning of the double bass & her kindness started thinking of providing them with a little heater. Her talents ranged even to her very expressive facial, er, expressions, ranging from the mere arching, asking eyebrow to ones that spoke volumes. I think that had she been born a few decades earlier she would made a fantastic actress of the silent era, even giving Lillian Gish a run for her money. The one that is etched in my mind is the one she greeted Lixi with at ATP once when Lixi eventually returned from the beach in the early hours with the chalet key - absolutely terrifying & I am glad it wasn't directed at me! I miss her a lot, & I wasn't anywhere near as close to her as others. I wish her family, Rob and her friends strength to deal with their grief and that a day will come when the pain of loss is less for them. I understand that Ken, Marianna & Pam have been in the front line of supporting Rob over recent days & I wish to thank them for the strength of their friendship & what they have also had to say & do on behalf of others. If I have another wish, it is that the tragic circumstances in which Liz met her end don't result in a permanent increase in fear & prejudice in the country - for a long period Liz's e-mail signature included the line "Regard the moon, La lune ne garde aucune rancune". Love, David Moore Chelmsford, UK +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+