Wedding 1982
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Olivia was the second daughter of B.J.W. Hill (1915-1985) and Elizabeth Crookshank (1923-2015). Her elder sister Penelope died in 2021, and her younger sister Rosamond in 2000. Her younger brother Peter survives them all: he played the clavinova at the cremation and he and Olivia's son Patrick will be playing the piano on April 28th - Patrick will also be playing his violin.'Bud' Hill was a housemaster at Eton, so Olivia was brought up in the Eton environment. She was educated in the arts at St. Mary's Wantage, a school with no pretensions to any mathematical or scientific subjects, and went on to study the 'cello and piano at the Royal Academy of Music, leaving with an LRAM. She worked in various roles, notably with Faber Music and as secretary to the Royal College of General Practitioners, until in 1982 she met and six months later married Christopher Dawkins, who was teaching Physics, Chemistry and Computing at Felsted School. No greater mismatch in interests could be imagined, but their marriage lasted forty years and produced two new citizens, Miranda and Patrick. Six days after her ruby wedding, Olivia died after three years of ovarian cancer.
We have organised two events.
The smaller one was a cremation at noon on January 23rd 2023, taken by Olivia's niece, the Revd Alice Ormondroyd.
We shall start in the Bluebell wood outside (continue beyond the main building in the same direction as you approached it). There we shall have an interment service led by Olivia's niece, the Revd Alice Ormondroyd, and Olivia's ashes will be buried under a wooden plaque amongst the bluebells. We always went out in the Spring to enjoy bluebell woods.
After this we shall return to the building for a memorial service followed by a long buffet lunch.
We hope most of the afternoon will be spent in the sunshine on the grass outside, so 'smart casual' wear is most appropriate for this day.
As you drive on the B1008, the Butcher's Arms is the clue that you are at the right place. Proceed up the road beside it, through the gates with cattle grid and on to the car park. Go past the building to the meeting point in the middle of the wood, about a hundred yards beyond the building (plan available below). Loos are in the smaller part of the building.
We will be assembling outside to start with, so we hope it will be fine. If not, umbrellas and boots may be necessary. The bluebell wood is very young and as it has been cold recently there may be few leaves and fewer bluebells, but there will be a view across the gently rolling fields of Essex. Avoid the existing graves.
We plan to start the proceedings at midday. If you are late, you can approach around the south side of the building to the back of the group, maybe even via the pond.
The formal proceedings should end soon after one pm. At that point, please exit through the south doors onto the patio there. The staff will need to move all the chairs and put out tables for the meal (menu here). After a time on the patio move in a clockwise direction around the corner to enter the smaller part of the building to help yourselves at the buffet. Continue then in a clockwise direction back to the main building, and repeat that clockwise circuit as many times as you like to refresh your glass or plate.
The text of the song Im Frühling (In Spring) is on a board and here (it will appear in a new tab).
If the weather is fine the meal can spread out over the patio and grass.
