Family use double decker bus as hearse for funeral of Sutton mum
THE family of a fun-loving Birmingham mum gave her an unforgettable funeral - by using a double-decker bus as a hearse.
Relatives of Julie Waters dispensed with the usual black limousine and ordered a red double decker for her final journey.
Then they all jumped aboard to accompany her coffin on the bus.
They reckoned Julie would have found the unusual send-off just the ticket.
So much so that friends even made special tickets for people travelling on the bus and erected a personalised bus stop for Julie at the church. The bus carried the number four, her favourite number.
After being diagnosed with breast cancer the 45-year- Julie, from Sutton, told her family that she didn’t want to travel to her funeral in a hearse.
So, after her death, plans were put into motion for a funeral with a difference
Her civil partner, Julie Pratt, said: “She never fancied the whole black Limousine thing so we looked at how we could all travel to the funeral together.
“The family didn’t like the idea of her being in a car on her own ahead of all the other cars either, so we came up with the bus idea.
“At first it looked like there were going to be problems with permits, but we spoke to the funeral directors and they were able to sort everything out for us.”
She said it had also been easier on Julie’s two children, Megan, aged14, and Frankie, aged 13, to be able to travel in the bus with their mum.
The coffin was covered in pictures of her with family and friends as well as other momentos of her life.
Ms Pratt added: “She was always at the centre of everything and she was so much fun that we thought it would be much more appropriate for her to travel with everyone like this.
“We weren’t really taking much notice of people on the street on the day, but people have come up to us afterwards and said they saw us going past and were wondering what was happening.”
The funeral service took place at St Chad’s Church, in Sutton, followed by cremation at Streetly Crematorium on December 2.
Ian Hazel from funeral directors, Ian Hazel Funerals, said: “It was a real challenge to co ordinate such an unusual funeral, with consideration having to be given to suitable venues and routes that the bus could take, while at the same time adhering to the family’s wishes.
“We have arranged some other unusual funerals in the past, but this one did give us some challenges to overcome. I’m sure we were able to meet all the family’s requirement without compromise.”
Julie had supported the charity the Sutton Cancer Support Centre for five years after her diagnosis with breast cancer.
Before she died she had been working as a regional director for the deaf and blind charity Sense.
Family have asked for donations to be made in Julie’s name to the Sutton Cancer Support Centre.
