Vroom Vroomto Kingdom Come!
0 Comments | Dearne (Mexborough, England), Dec 2, 2009
The 70-year-old Bolton-on-Dearne window cleaner lost his battle with cancer.
But he had a final burn-up left in him a hot-rodding it to the CREM, fastened to one of the fastest motorbikes in the world.
Dressed in his biking leathers, Horace made his last ride easy a to
St Andrew’s Church in the town a in a one-off SIDECAR hearse, powered by a Suzuki Hayabusa.
Then it was on to Barnsley Crematorium a accompanied by a leather-clad biker escort.
Jaws dropped along the route at his extraordinary hearse a which lit up as it went along! A packed service then watched as Horace a known to his friends as “H” a arrived to the Frank Sinatra classic My Way.
And he left this world to George Formby’s When I’m Cleaning Windows a in memory of his 40-year career.
The funeral was the brain-child of Bolton funeral director Frank Hoyland.
Horace’s ex-wife Theresa Trueman, who led the mourners, along with their sons Kraige, 33, Paul 29, and Jake, 18, said the ceremony was “out of this world”.
The 54-year-old from Main Street, Goldthorpe, said: “I have never seen anything like it. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the hearse a it lit up.
“The number of heads it was turning along the route was unbelievable.
The cortege was beautiful. The man who thought of it wants a medal.”
She explained: “Horace spent his last days in Barnsley Hospice and staff there told Frank about Horace’s love of bikes a so he came up with the idea and found these bikes from a specialist hearse rental. I was so shocked and amazed when I saw it, I couldn’t catch my breath.”
Horace, a dad of four, who died on November 15 just three months after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, had been a keen biker and spent Sundays on the roads on his beloved Suzuki.
“Sunday was Horace’s bike day and when he was on his Suzuki, he said he felt like he was 40 again a so we cremated him in his leathers.
“Horace would head up to Sherburn in Elmet a so his biker friends from there, and all over, came and provided a guard of honour.
“He was my ex-husband but he was also my best friend.
“He was such a gentleman a the kindest man you could meet.
“Just before he died, he asked me to marry him again. He was lovely.
“Horace told the nurses at the hospice ‘just call me “H” because it makes me feel tough’.”
“He would have loved his funeral
leather cleaner