This is the eulogy that I gave at my sisters and brother in laws funeral

Eulogy for  David and Anne Spencer September 8^th 2023

Hello – for the few of you who do not know me I am Shaun Peck, Anne Spencer’s elder brother. I have lived in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada for the last 52 years. 

This is a very sad time. It is made even more sad because we are here with Anne and David in front of us in the church.

 I will tell some stories and add to what most of you know about David and Anne as we come together to grieve their sudden and unexpected passing. The grandchildren and nieces and nephews in particular might like to know a bit about their earlier life.

My brother-in-law David was a man of many talents. He had a vision of what he wanted to do, and he achieved it. He was fortunate to have an inheritance which he then managed to increase significantly while working in a bank in the City of London. 

He then decided he wanted to buy a farm somewhere in England which had a stream running through it. He bought all the ordinance survey maps in England to help him. Eventually, with the help of his friend Stephen Twyman, who is here to-day, he found about 260 acres at Garrington with a house on it. The original house on the site had been mentioned in the Doomsday Book in the year 1086.

David then had a team of builders spend two years renovating the house. He paid great attention to the details. For example, he found old Dutch bricks to surround the fireplaces. He bought the whole of a wood yard’s supply of oak to make doors and beams. (When I lie in bed, I marvel at the old, knotted beams and what may have been their history. I also listen to the doves as they coo dit dah dit – the letter R in Morse code and dit dah which is A- Richard (David’s first name) and Anne dit dit dah dit dah. I also still hear the clip clop of the horses as they are brought in each morning by the person who now looks after them).

After finding the farm he wanted to find a wife!  He and Stephen were wife hunting together. My sister Anne at the time in the early 1960s was a primary school teacher teaching at Waltham primary school. She drove an Austin seven that she had bought for 25 pounds. She also loved riding horses. 

He started courting her driving his magnificent 1931 Invicta car.  When they announced their engagement, he turned up at our house in Canterbury with a brand-new blue Sunbeam Alpine sports car for her as an engagement present. They then drove to London to buy an engagement ring. After this he bought her a horse “Gay Bonnet” to keep on the farm. 

David had amazing talents. One time he single handedly made many presentations to planning authorities that resulted in preventing part of the farm and the adjacent Mount property from being turned into a gravel pit.  He was a collector - historic paintings of naval battles in the days of sail, of books and of cars.  He was a - handyman building and fixing many parts of the farm and farmhouse.  He was also very savvy in managing their financial affairs and the complexity of farm finances.

The two of them were a wonderful partnership with Anne playing a daily role in running the farm. As well as looking after all the needs of the farmer she kept an eye on what was going on with her daily riding on the many horses she owned and bred over the years.

They had a wonderful wedding in Canterbury Cathedral on November 4^th 1964 – 59 years ago. Our Uncle Michael David Saville Peck, who was archdeacon of Portsmouth at the time, married them. Stephen Twyman was best man. I gave my sister away. Our father, who was a doctor in Canterbury all though the war had gone to Australia with his secretary in 1959. Anne was 23 when they married and David 30. I would have been 25.

 David and Anne moved to live in Garrington in April 1965. I first stayed at Garrington in August 1965.I have now stayed 58 times at Garrington. How do I know? My sister insisted that all who stayed signed the visitors book.

As most of you know Anne was involved in many community organizations (particularly anything involved with horses- pony club, hunting, horse breading, riding for the disabled, the Countryside alliance etc.). 

With her education training she was a board member of several schools including the Littlebourne Primary school. They were also very supportive of this church. David donated the land that enabled the church to expand the burial area where they are to be buried after this service.

Of course Anne also was the mother to Robert, Caryn, Phillip and Helen on the farm and then was hugely supportive of them in their upbringing and education and later also of her eight grandchildren.

 You are all so lucky to have experienced the freedom and joy of the farm life. 

Robert asked me not to be too serious. Here is a story. One part of Robert’s learning to be a farmer was when he had a pig, a large sow called Gerty. He learned to accurately measure her feed and manage her growth. I never learned whether Gerty was sent to market or whether they had her for breakfast. That  might have been a bit too difficult to stomach.

If you live on a farm you never move – like most of us do every few years. This has resulted in David and Anne’s amazing legacy which is Garrington.

Garrington will always be there – it will take at least a couple of years for it to be sorted and for its new role be developed.  I look forward to visiting possibly in a years' time perhaps to attend the Canterbury festival (which I did every year for a week or two with my sister )- that is if I am still fit and well!  I hope I can continue to keep in touch with all of you.

Anne and I had a close brother/sister relationship. We would talk on FaceTime every week.  About  a week before the accident my wife Penny and I had a wonderful conversation with her. She had just enjoyed visiting many of the family in Cornwall and was so looking forward to the wedding. It was not to be for her.

She was a fantastic mother, grandmother, wife, sister and friend to many.  She was always so supportive of us all. 

Music, sponge cake, farm produce (pheasant, duck, beef, fresh vegetables) was all part of staying at Garrington. 

Most of all with David they were a wonderful team together managing the farm, supporting so many people and animals.

As cousin Martha said – they may have left this life but they will live forever in our memories.

Here is an epitaph.

They lived together, loved together and left together.

I would like to end with a biblical quote from Romans 8:38,39

“I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”