It’s hard to say goodbye but easy to remember better times

Iattended my first Zoom funeral last week. It was for a dear friend of mine who was taken far too soon. His send-off was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. It made me laugh and cry (often at the same time), especially when his favourite jungle music began booming out of the crematorium sound system – it seemed to perfectly sum him up.

I was apprehensive about tuning into the ceremony, worried I’d feel like a voyeur, detached from the sadness of the occasion.afterwards though, I felt very glad I did because saying goodbye – however you are able to do it – is an important step in the grieving process.

It’s a basic human need that Covid has denied so many in the last year. On pages 6&7, actress Maureen Beattie reflects for the first time about losing her father, the legendary Johnny Beattie, during the pandemic.

In normal times, his funeral would have been a star-studded affair, with friends from stage and screen packing out the church to celebrate his life. Instead, it was an intimate family gathering.

Maureen tells us she felt relieved that she was able to say her final goodbyes in the church where her mum and dad were married and where she, and her three siblings, were baptised. She says: “We all feel we did him proud, which is a comfort.”

Maureen is now packing up her father’s house. Although tinged with sadness, she says the task of sifting through his treasured mementos, has brought back many happy childhood memories.

And in the end it’s these memories, that can’t be taken from us, that keep our lost loved ones alive.