"The Spiritual Stations of the Nation"
This page was last updated on Sunday, 27 July 2008 12:50:18 PM

Dear Jeff and all of Bill’s friends in Australia;

I am writing to say how wonderful it has been to see and hear how much Bill meant to you all in Australia. As a dear friend, it was my task to help the family, and to put together his memorial. I did this with so much love and pride for a man who I consider to be truly remarkable; a simple no-nonsense guy with a heart of gold, will of steel, and a sense of humour which could melt the polar ice caps!

As you all know, our memorial was held in his garden on Sunday 13th July 2008.

Well, the sun, as you might expect, did indeed shine! The boys arranged to put up a big marquee and some smaller tents for refreshments and to sell Bill’s book, The Travelling Medium. I’d put a programme together, but as you can imagine, it got changed a few times with very strong prompts from ‘you know who!! We got set up and all went really smoothly.
People started to arrive at around 11am. There was a beautiful feeling of peace and as you looked around the garden, little groups began to gather to talk, share picnics, reflect or have some healing. The children had made a special ribbon tree which was wonderful. In the sanctuary, we set up for people to have healing. In the corner, I had a DVD running with images of Bill throughout his life, with words from either himself or testaments from others. You guys would like the first one. Bill starts his book saying, ‘Indiana Jones’ adventures are nothing compared to the ones on which Spirit takes me. ’  I chose a picture of Bill in a laid back moment, wearing his Aussie hat – looking very Indie!! It was funny, but no healing took place in the sanctuary – people just filed in to watch the DVD which ran for about seven minutes. They watched it time and time again – and the room was continually full.

The guys began to set up the sound system – I grabbed a sandwich quickly, and we were ready. Many hundreds of people were crammed into the big marquee and many stood outside as there was not enough room. We knew this would happen – but it was fine as everyone could see and hear. I had decided to have Bill’s huge poster on the stage with a spotlight – and to start the programme with, as you all know, his signature tune, Unchained Melody. It was to be Bill’s last public performance – with himself on centre stage of course. Well, the CD didn’t work!! What a laugh we all had – the joke was on us! Well, we sorted that bit out and Bill had his moment. Sean, his eldest son said a few words of welcome and then, after everyone had shown their appreciation to the family for allowing the event to take place – the afternoon began.

Sean was brave enough to give the family’s tribute and then, the Harrison children, led by Will (Bill jnr)  went up and shared a few jokes. It was magic. I’d got people to come and share things about Bill’s life that were not widely known. We all knew he was a fireman for 22 years – but not that he was an aspiring politician!! We saw the campaign posters with his name on and everyone laughed when I said I now realised why he always had so much trouble from the local council

There was a lovely lady who was with Bill right at the start of his spiritual journey and so many testaments of how Bill had helped people. Mike Carter came on and brought the house down with an astounding medley of songs, ending with You’ll never walk alone. Everyone was up on their feet singing and waving. For those of you who don’t know him, Mike is a real showbiz guy, whose operatic gift is astounding. If you close your eyes, you really think you’re in the presence of Pavaroti, Mario Lanzo etc. Spirit draws so close as he works. It was amazing.  Secret World came and shared with us about  Bill’s love of animals. Yet again, more laughter as Maria, alias Monkey, shared a story, too long to tell, but in a nutshell amounted to a tale of Chinese whispers about Bill who was at an event, and a rumour going around that he had a very large snake out in his tent. Apparently, people flocked to see the spectacle!!!

The children brought tears to everyone’s eyes, as they came with pictures they had drawn and words they had written about their grandad, uncle. It was really lovely – and I for one, have no doubt that young Will has a spark of the old healing magic in him.

We sang together John Lennon’s Imagine, as we had at the funeral. This time – the energy was incredibly powerful. People sang from the bottom of their hearts. Neil H created a unique piece of music for Bill, using the letters of his name and corresponding chords to create what I guess you could describe as Bill’s signature tune. It was based on his travels.

What an amazing sound we all heard. Again, so powerful, Neil himself had to take a break outside after he finished, indeed, Mike did too. This was a one off and will never be heard again, despite many people asking for him to record it.  

Patrick, Ron and Ron told everyone that they were going to keep the The Healers International Network going, in Bill’s honour. Patrick, Ron , Anne and myself did a short demo. I’d made 10 golden tickets, Willy Wonka style, which were stuck under people’s seats. It caused mayhem as people tried to look to see if they were the lucky people and once again, jokes abounded.

Demo over, it was time for Patrick to do his bit. Bill has an amazing painting which Patrick did for him many years ago. The painting came to be seen as a spiritual blue-print of Bill and his life.

Well, Patrick created a print of this piece, and added small bits to it. The piece was then auctioned, with proceeds going to Bill’s family to help cover the costs of the day. It raised over £600 – don’t know what that is in Aussie dollars. It was a great thing to do – and lots of bantering kept the price rising!

The night before, I knew I had something left to do – it was as if Bill was right there whispering, well, alright, nagging me. Then I got it. It was the children. You see, they had listened to Bill’s wishes and Bill wanted them to be heard.
Steve had ordered a rocket from somewhere abroad – and Bill’s ashes were launched to the stars. The children wanted to say goodbye by sending balloons to keep him company. So, the children, indeed all the children, had a special balloon with one of Bill’s cards attached.

We filed out onto the ‘field of dreams’ to Phil Collins’ You’ll be in my heart always, and made an enormous circle – well, circles within circles. I asked Will what was in his balloon and he said, ‘Why love of course’. It was beautiful. So, with family and the children encircled in this amazing, loving energy, I said a few words and then the children sent their messages of love and goodbyes – helped by all the grown ups. Everyone waved and cheered as they watched until the balloons finally disappeared. Three kites (bird variety) had been hovering overhead – now they too flew away. And that was it – final goodbyes and thoughts for the future were shared. I could not have wished for anything better for Bill. He, I’m sure, was mighty proud of everyone

Well, to all of you, I know how proud Bill was of you. He loved you all and he loved being with you. He said there was nowhere in the world with energy as good. I think he was really an Aussie at heart!!

So, my friends, you all take care. Maybe I might meet some of you one day. God Bless, look after each other and keep your dreams burning bright.

elainefenton@tiscali.co.uk