BILL PARKINSON (1924-2011)

My Dad sometimes refers to funerals as "fittin’" - by which he means that the service has been entirely appropriate as an act of celebration and remembrance of the person who has died. I think Bill Parkinson would have considered the celebration of his life which took place at Fulwood on the 31st March to have been fittin’. It would not have been that there were over 600 people present in our church to remember this humble man, packed into every corner of the church, Willow Grove and Hall, via video screens. Nor even that poignant memories were shared of Bill the farmer, Bill the family man, Bill the friend and of course Bill the preacher, with the heart of an evangelist. It was fittin’, because Bill had asked that each of us there should hear again the words of the gospel and be offered an invitation to respond. Underneath Bill’s picture on the front cover of the service booklet was a simple phrase: ‘Gone to Glory’. He will be having a great time in Glory now - with the Lord and Saviour he loved to share with us.

Andrew Bennett