A wanderin’ star no more

by Martin Moodie |
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Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

When I get to heaven, tie me to a tree
For I’ll begin to roam and soon you’ll know where I will be
I was born under a wanderin’ star
A wanderin’, wanderin’ star

A red dragon made from flowers.  A floral rugby ball.  A garland of leeks. Symbols of a passionate Welshman’s life.

A mother with the duty no parent should have, of saying goodbye to her child. A family mourning a loved husband, father, grandfather and brother taken too young. A gathering of his friends – personal, business, rugby buddies. Team mates all.

Farewell John ‘Alan’ Edwards, whose funeral and cremation took place yesterday in Charing, near the family home in Rye.

A day to grieve and mourn but, as all such days should be, also to celebrate a life. And what a life Alan led.

Somewhere he must have been smiling as the rich timbres of ‘Wanderin’ star’ filled the church at the beginning of the service.  For Alan, like WB Yeat’s Wandering Aengus, indeed wandered “through hollow lands and hilly lands”, from his native Wales, to England, to Bahrain, to Sri Lanka, to Qatar, touching people wherever he went.

The back of the service programme carried a quote from J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan: “To die would be an awfully big adventure.” I can hear Alan chuckling now as he contemplates his latest sojourn.

Stuart Mcguire, his good friend, who read the tribute, spoke of “A man of character, a man with character”. He couldn’t have put it better. Alan the man of banter and genial butt of even more; Alan the man with a heart the size of all the Welsh valleys set side by side.

Rest now Alan. No more wanderin’. You’re in heaven. And we’ve finally tied you to that tree.

  • Thank you for sharing this tribute Martin. My wife and I had a drink ‘with’ Alan on Friday, it just seemed a fitting way to say goodbye. Cheers, Kevin

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