Parish of Leatherhead - Christopher John Hodson
| Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of Christopher John Hodson 5th August 1939 - 29th February 2024 Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory! Church of the Holy Spirit, Fetcham Wednesday 27th March 2024, 11.00am Celebrant: Fr. Charles Howell |
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ORDER OF SERVICE
At the door, the coffin is sprinkled with holy water
as a reminder of baptism.
ENTRANCE HYMN
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
GREETING AND WELCOME
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Fr. Charles will speak briefly to welcome everyone.
The symbols of faith are placed [Bible and crucifix]
EULOGY
Dominic Hodson
Dad was born in Manchester on 5 August 1939, just a month before the start of the 2nd World War. He grew up there with his parents, and was the oldest of three - with brother Andrew and sister Trixie.
When he was about ten years old, the family moved to Raynes Park, near Wimbledon where he went to school at Donhead and then Wimbledon College – where he made lifelong friends. His family remain based in and around Wimbledon, even to this day. We believe Dad was the longest serving member of Wimbledon Village Club, having joined in 1958. Although he rarely visited the club, he was a big fan of English pubs.
After he left school he went to university at Kings College in London and studied Law – a subject that would come to define him, his life and his revered reputation among his friends and anyone who met him.
It was In December 1958 when the Law students had a party and the French students had a party. One of the parties ran out of wine – which is starting to sound quite Biblical. So the two parties joined together and Dad met Marilyn – our beloved mother, who later became a French teacher. So I suppose it was not only the birth of their romance but also the start of his love affair with fine wine.
At the door, the coffin is sprinkled with holy water
as a reminder of baptism.
ENTRANCE HYMN
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
GREETING AND WELCOME
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen
The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Fr. Charles will speak briefly to welcome everyone.
The symbols of faith are placed [Bible and crucifix]
EULOGY
Dominic Hodson
Dad was born in Manchester on 5 August 1939, just a month before the start of the 2nd World War. He grew up there with his parents, and was the oldest of three - with brother Andrew and sister Trixie.
When he was about ten years old, the family moved to Raynes Park, near Wimbledon where he went to school at Donhead and then Wimbledon College – where he made lifelong friends. His family remain based in and around Wimbledon, even to this day. We believe Dad was the longest serving member of Wimbledon Village Club, having joined in 1958. Although he rarely visited the club, he was a big fan of English pubs.
After he left school he went to university at Kings College in London and studied Law – a subject that would come to define him, his life and his revered reputation among his friends and anyone who met him.
It was In December 1958 when the Law students had a party and the French students had a party. One of the parties ran out of wine – which is starting to sound quite Biblical. So the two parties joined together and Dad met Marilyn – our beloved mother, who later became a French teacher. So I suppose it was not only the birth of their romance but also the start of his love affair with fine wine.
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They bought a house in Tolworth, and this was where Catherine was born a year later, followed by Patrick.
While Dad was living in Tolworth he joined the Knights of St Columba - and kept in touch with them for the rest of his life. We’re very honoured to have some of the Knights here.
They then decided they needed more space so they moved to Leatherhead and that’s where I came in.
Dad was a great sailor – or rather, he greatly loved sailing. He actually even built his own boat and often went sailing in it – down the Thames, in Chichester Harbour and then Coniston in The Lake District. It was during the boat building and subsequent sailing that Dad released his, usually hidden, temper. Sailing can often bring out the stress in the calmest of people and I remember that after some of his frustrated outbursts, following frantic bailing, booms clattering our heads and lost rowlocks – the only way to get us to agree to go sailing with him, was for him to promise to buy us sweets every time he swore.
But as you all know, Dad was normally a very calm and level-headed man. He enjoyed reading and had a huge collection of books, encyclopaedias and dictionaries and tried his hand at several different languages including Latin, Greek and Sanskrit. We grew up without the Internet. But we didn’t need it – he was the fount of all knowledge.
He was very fond of walking and on one occasion walked all the way from Leatherhead to the south coast in one day. Very much a pillar of the community, he was on the Leatherhead Catholic Parish Council and also Chairman of St Andrews School PTA. In his younger days, Dad was an excellent sprinter and hurdler, representing Wimbledon College at both disciplines – we even got to see him run once at Crystal Palace, which was the nation’s main athletics stadium in those days.
He worked in the legal department of the Greater London Council - or the GLC - for most of his working life - until it was replaced by the London Residuary Body. When he knew he was going to be made redundant, in his early 50s, he started a private solicitor’s practice and ran it from our family home on The Crescent in Leatherhead.
This was a strange time.
It was a tall Victorian House and our dining
room and spare bedroom became offices with staff. The thing is, while
this was all going on, we kids were doing our
best to live the life as teenagers. I’d be getting up at 12 and having
breakfast in my dressing gown with Vincent (who
was one of the solicitors) while he had his lunch. There
would be a house full of teenagers, solicitors and clients. Meanwhile,
the lodger’s father, who was a vet, was
neutering our cat Ruddles on the kitchen table.
After all this, understandably, Dad elected to call time on his legal career and he decided to retrain to teach English as a foreign language. Mum and Dad moved to Coniston in the Lake District where he taught students and she provided their bed and breakfast. They invited many friends to stay, fed them and took them out walking in the mountains. Mum & Dad became very much part of the community in Coniston and were active instigators of the twinning of Coniston with Illiers-Combray in France.
After about ten years in the Lake District they became the grandparents of the lovely Amélie and Sebastian - they came back to Surrey and bought a house in Dorking. From this moment on, they became very involved in babysitting and the school run. Something Dad was still helping us with right up until early last year.
Dad also liked travelling and they had many holidays in the UK and abroad. Going back to the 1970s, Mum & Dad discovered the concept of doing house swaps for holidays, much to our horror. This involved us having to go and stay in someone else’s house while they came and stayed in ours. They did choose some extraordinary destinations but the most memorable one must have been having our summer holiday in Middlesborough, in the shadow of cooling towers and a transporter bridge.
Decades later they clearly inspired Hollywood to make the 2006 film, The Holiday, based just over the hill from here in Shere, starring Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz. So although he may well have influenced Jude Law, Dad was not really the trendiest kid on the block. Much of his time in the 1970s, 1980s and even 1990s, he would be found wearing his trademark grey socks and brown leather sandals. But then look what happened? Now kids across the land are routinely dressing like Chris Hodson – referred to as ‘socks and sliders’ these days.
Dad did an admirable job of looking after Mum when she became ill 13 years ago, even though he himself was going through treatment for prostate cancer. And after she died, he took up playing bridge and went to live with Alison in Leatherhead. Alison had been a family friend since the Hodsons first moved to Leatherhead in 1968. She was even around when I was born. We grew up playing in the street with Alison’s sons, Michael & David.
Not a lot of people know this but, Dad had actually given Alison away at her marriage to Horace in about the late1970s. When Dad was with Alison they had a busy social life and we have many of their friends and parishioners from Leatherhead Parish Church here today. He looked after Alison too until she sadly died a couple of years ago.
Dad was always happy to
help everybody, giving advice, his time, lifts in the car, and money.
In his last couple of years he developed some
health issues and started to suffer with his memory. He
was cared for at Deepdene Care Home in Dorking and later Parkside
Nursing Home in Banstead where he was
enormously popular with the staff.
Dad was gregariously sociable and had a great many friends. He was very interested in food and wine and brewed his own beer, until Patrick and I started drinking it all. Now, Catherine included this point in her historical summary for me and, admittedly, it's not an entirely unfair comment. There was this time when he’d brewed his usual 5 gallon bucket of Best Bitter, and Mum and Dad had gone out one sunny afternoon, leaving me and Patrick at a loose end. (Catherine was probably in her room, listening to Duran Duran or something). So anyway, Patrick and I set about this bucket in the kitchen as it was just staring us in the face. After a couple of hours the level had dropped worryingly and so we put the lid back on and waited apprehensively for Dad to get home. Now my reason for telling you this story is really to tell you the kind of dad, Dad was, which I’ll come to...
Many of you have written
to us to tell us of your relationship with Dad and the kindness and generosity he has shown you. Maybe for some it was just
general genial socialising - but in many cases
where people might have been going through tough times, Dad had
stepped in to help. We’ve been told of so many
times that he made himself available to help and make a difference in
your lives.
So, you know what he was like as a friend. Well you can imagine what it must have been like to have him as a father. Going back to the beer bucket story, Dad would have quite clearly been able to see that the Plimsoll Line dropped by several inches. There was a distinct change in the two tone shade level of that orange bucket. But he said nothing – he just let it go – this was the kind of Dad he was. Always kind, calm (except when he was sailing), often funny (although sometimes only he found amusement in his jokes) and he was super caring and generous. A wonderful & loving husband - He simply was the best Dad ever.
When we started to help him with his administration recently, we found direct debits from his bank account to over 30 different charities - monthly.
He didn’t just look after me, my brother and sister – whatever scrapes we got ourselves in. He looked out for everyone. Always looking for some way that he could help those he knew – and even those he didn’t know.
Which is surely why so many are here today.
Dad died in care after a short illness on the 29th of February. Surrounded, in his heart, by so many visitors and letters from his friends and family.
We all miss him. So much.
OPENING PRAYER
All answer: Amen
FIRST READING
1 JOHN 3:1-2
Catherine Hodson
At the end of the
reading:
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
PSALM
The Lord's my Shepherd
GOSPEL READING
The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
A reading from the Holy
Gospel according to Luke.
Glory to you, O Lord
LUKE 23: 33, 39-43
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
HOMILY
Fr. Charles will speak
about the Christian hope in the resurrection
BIDDING PRAYERS
After each
intercession:
Lord in your mercy.
Hear our prayer.
OFFERTORY
The altar is prepared
with bread and wine for the celebration of the Eucharist.
Pray, my dear brothers
and sisters that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the
almighty Father.
May the Lord accept
the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of his name,
for our good and the good of all his holy Church.
PRAYER OVER THE
OFFERINGS
All answer: Amen.
THE EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the
Lord.
Let us give thanks to the
Lord our God.
It is right and just.
PREFACE FOR THE DEAD
Holy, holy, holy Lord
God of hosts.
Heaven and earth are
full of your glory.
Hosanna in the
highest.
Blessed is he who
comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the
highest.
After the words of
Consecration:
The mystery of faith
We proclaim your
death, O Lord,
and profess your
resurrection
until you come again.
At the end of the
prayer: Amen!
THE LORD'S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name;
Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our
daily bread,
And forgive us our
trespasses,
As we forgive those
who trespass against us;
And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Later the prayer
continues:
For the kingdom, the
power and the glory are yours now and forever.
And the prayer ends:
Amen
The peace of the Lord be
with you always.
And with your spirit.
Let us offer one another
the sign of peace.
Lamb of God, you take
away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us
Lamb of God, you take
away the sins of the world
have mercy on us
Lamb of God, you take
away the sins of the world
grant us peace.
Lord I am not worthy
that you should enter under my roof,
but only say the word
and my soul shall be healed.
Anyone not receiving
Holy Communion is warmly invited to come forward
to the priest and
receive a blessing. It is helpful if you indicate this by
crossing your arms on
your chest and bowing slightly.
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
All answer: Amen
FINAL COMMENDATION
As a sign of our leave
taking and farewell the coffin is incensed,
and sprinkled with
holy water, by Fr. Charles.
At the end of the
prayer all answer: Amen
RECESSIONAL HYMN
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord
of my Heart
The prayers of
committal will take place at the door of the hearse, please
gather outside. If the
weather is poor these prayers will be said inside the church before
the final hymn.
Following the service
you are all invited for refreshments at
The Bell, Bell Lane,
Fetcham. Exit left from the church and it is 200 yards down the
road.
last updated 30 March 2024
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