The saddest funerals are those that mark the end not only of a life but also of a culture that surrounded it; and an example was the funeral Mass for Monika Saunders which took place a few weeks ago at St Augustine’s Abbey in the depths of rural Surrey.
Monika had the good fortune to own a nearby Arts & Crafts house with a Gertrude Jekyll garden – Woodhouse Copse. And there, for many years, she hosted concerts and staged operas: an activity that might sound Glyndebourne-grand, although the way she did it was more modest and eccentric.
