Thanks to everyone for coming to Johns’s wake

 

Wake 10 June

Hi all, John will be cremated on the 10 June at 10am at Rawdon Crematorium Leeds Road, Rawdon, Leeds, LS19 6JP (main crematorium entrance off A65 at LS18 5EW). 

If you would prefer to come just to the Wake (John was not one for funerals after all), we will be having a sandwich buffet and a few drinks in the White Swan in Yeadon from 12pm. Home - The White Swan. That’s where we’ll do the words, and a few drinks, overlooking the cricket pitch. 

If you’re early please have a stroll around Yeadon tarn, or watch the planes take off from the airport behind. There’s a cricket pitch by the pub, so feels free to wear your cricket whites. 

Please RSPV to Chas or Casey by the 7th June.  If you would like to say a little something at the wake please let us know. Please bring any photos you have to hand, especially if they’re funny or irreverent. 

We won’t be collecting for flowers, but if you feel so included you could donate to RSPB or the Samaritans. 

John Morrison 1951-2024

Dear friends, family, John passed away very early Thursday morning. He was very peaceful- no pain or discomfort, no complaints, no resentment, no regrets. I think in his last days he became reconciled to everything. For a man who had no time for any religion, he was ironically somewhat spiritual, and he made his peace with the world. 

Thank you all for your messages of friendship and love.  Remember some good times you had with him, some inappropriate jokes, some silliness, some irreverence, some dark comedy moments, fits of laughter, cricket matches, country walks and birdsong and good pubs and seeing the light move over the hills and being in wonder of everything, of the natural beauty of this world...

We will hold a wake for him [date TBC]. He had no time for funerals.  We will hold a wake, to have a few drinks, to celebrate his life, the good times we had, tell stories and reminisce, and mourn the passing of one of this world's true iconoclasts.  Please look through your old files and photos, for any pics, drawings, videos or anecdotes.

John Morrison 1951-2024

Grassington Springs

Hi all, its Casey here with John in Grassington. The plan, as many of you know, was to move John to Alderbrook nursing home in North Leeds, where he could get nursing care at a level he needs. However the districts nurses have now decided its not possible to move him, which means we're in the last few days/weeks of life. John is on a morphine patch, steroids and unti-seisure medication. He sleeps most of the time. After some discomfort with a catheter and dealing with his changing mental state, he seems much calmer. He's got the peace and tranquility he had in the early stages of the disease. His breathing is laboured, but he can still hear the spring birds through the window, in the place where he chose to be. 

Thank you for the messages/photos/playlists of memories over the last few months, its mean a lot to him. The staff in Hill Top have been wonderfully kind. We've had lots of conversations about Krishnamurti, and thoughts on death. You can read some of them in his last blog posts. Thats it for now.   

 Confusion

Hi all, its Casey here agin with john.  He's on a reasonable amount of morphine so he sleeps quite a lot. Hes on steroids to reduce the swelling in his brain and some other medication to prevent seisures, but otherwise just carrying on. He has had enough in many ways, he's not been out of bed for 10 days and is increaseingly confused. The parania he had a week or so ago may be reducing but he's still dealing with the grief of his condiction and the reducing of dignity that comes with it. 

We're in contact with the paliative care team, so he may get moved at some point if there's a further need for it. Most likely place is Oxenhope near Haworth. Thanks for the messages and photos on his phone, we read them out every couple of days.

Cricket Season

Hello everyone, Chas here with John in sunny Grassington.  He sleeps a lot these days, but has no pain mercifully. Very little appetite either.  He can still talk but finds it hard.  He mentioned some clarity that he can perceive, and that he feels at peace.  He slept fine last night. He loves listening to the various birds singing outside.

He can't really articulate if he wants visitors or not. Anyone who did visit would struggle to hold a conversation with him, but he might appreciate just sitting in the stillness

 Hi everyone. It might be difficuklt for me to communicate or write anything....  my son Chas is writing this.  please be patient, sorry if i dont reply to your messages and voicemails