Not losing it

There are times when I feel as if the administration of these 11 parishes is slipping slowly out of my grasp, but this morning has reassured me that I do still know what's going on.

In the post I received a Memorial Application Form from an stonemason we deal with quite regularly to place a stone vase memorial in one of our churchyards. Usually it's a simple process to review what is being submitted, see if it meets the Diocesan regulations, note the payment details in our records and send back the approval. However, this time, the name of the deceased didn't seem familiar. The date of death was August 2005, so I backtracked through our Benefice funeral details to that date to try and locate the service for the person concerned, but without any luck. I then contacted the Stonemasons and they said they would investigate the details from their end of things.

I have just got back in from a house visit to find a message from them saying that the deceased's ashes were in fact interred in our nearby municipal cemetery and not in this particular churchyard, and that the application was made to me in error. I have therefore put a line through all the details and the cheque and returned it all to them in the post.

So I'm glad that I didn't just "sign off" on this request, but followed my instincts this wasn't someone with whose remains we had dealt. The "leetle grey cells" are still working!