With a colourful procession of several hundred people, John Marjoram was laid to rest in the June sunshine, surrounded by a circle of family, friends and the many people who had been inspired by the ‘fearless and feisty’ former mayor of Stroud.
The funeral of John Marjoram, held in the heart of the town in the Subscription Rooms on Monday, was a perfect celebration of a man who lived life as a campaigner for peace and his community.
With around 450 people sitting in an intimate semi-circle in the Sub Room’s ballroom, with more sitting on the stage and balcony and standing at the back, it was no surprise that the venue reached capacity. Outside on the forecourt a further 50 people stood in the sun coming together to remember and celebrate John.
Pictures Matt Bigwood
The service opened in the Quaker tradition with a silent contemplation. Fiona Meadley, of Painswick Quakers invited the gathering, to sit in silence and ‘reach the peace that lies beyond words.’
The eulogy was given by Aaron Mirkin of Stroud’s Christian Community who invited us to remember our ‘feisty and fearless friend John Marjoram.”
He recounted John’s “deep humanity, kindness and courage and his capacity to offer up everything he had for what he believed was right, and doing this by ‘thinking globally and acting locally.”
“He had a natural and instinctive vision for a better world – the world how it could be – a vision of the world of peace of love and brotherhood and sisterhood.”
The eulogy described John’s love of nature, his lifelong pacifism and his commitment to the community of Stroud, and beyond.
John grew up in rural Essex in the 1940s, the start of his enduring love of nature. The experiences of his two uncles – one of whom was a conscientious objector during World War One and the other a veteran of the war who told John of the horrors he’d seen – inspired John to campaign for peace throughout his life. He became involved with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Peace Pledge Union, and was twice arrested for breaking into American military bases.
John moved to Stonehouse in 1967 and then to Stroud in 1970. He worked as a gardener at Wynstones School and then at the Home Farm Trust in Frocester where he worked for 29 years until he retired.
In 1975 John co-founded the Stroud district branch of the Ecology Party, which later became the Green Party. In 1986 he became one of the first Green councillors in the UK and represented the Trinity ward seat on Stroud District Council for 35 years. He was also one of the first councillors elected to Stroud Town Council when it was formed in 1990. He campaigned to save many important landmarks of Stroud – Hill Paul, Woodchester Mansion, Uplands Post Office, Lansdown Hall – and to save the Subscription Rooms from private ownership and Stroud Maternity Hospital from closure. In 2023 John was honoured with the first Honorary Freeman of the Town in recognition of his services to the community.
Scroll through Matt Bigwood’s picture gallery from John Marjoram’s funeral celebration of a wonderful life spent serving Stroud
“We’re going to miss our feisty and fearless friend very much,” Aaron told the gathering before encouraging us “to take up the weighty baton he passed on to us” and remember his mission that; “if we don’t do the impossible, we will be faced with the unthinkable.’”
John’s wife Laura Ridolfi read the poem “I Love You,” by Mario Benedetti which was followed by a prayer and a short song for peace.
It is believed to be the first time the Subscription Rooms has ever hosted a funeral, and it was a fitting venue for the funeral of Stroud’s former mayor whose life was lived at the heart of the community.
John’s simple coffin adorned with flowers was carried out into the sunshine on the forecourt and onto a hand cart for a slow procession to Stroud Cemetery.
Stroud’s Red Band accompanied the colourful procession of several hundred people – some carrying rainbow Peace flags – which made its way up Stroud High Street, past John’s home on Castle Street and along Horn’s Road to Stroud Cemetery.
The procession arrived at the cemetery to the band’s gentle playing of Wonderful World and He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother.
John was laid to rest in the beautiful June sunshine, surrounded by a circle of family and friends, the sound of birdsong, wood pigeons, the scent of elderflower, and ending with a rendition of Kahlil Gibran’s words on the nature of death, from The Prophet. It was the perfect remembrance of a man whose lifelong work had inspired so many.
Following the burial, friends were invited to return to the Sub Rooms for a bring-and-share lunch, and a relaxed memorial gathering to share memories and celebrate John’s life. Well over 100 people came to remember and share their memories and stories – with contributions from such Stroud icons as Jehanne and Rob Mehta and Will Mercer (aka Earthwards), who performed Jehanne’s evocatively beautiful song ‘This Place’; the Green Party’s Molly Scott-Cato and Lucas Shoemaker, and Elvis (‘The Poet’) McGonagall. Adrian Keefe, music therapist from Mindsong, played some of John’s favourite songs. Political and more personal memories were woven with humour, love and a great sense of loss.
The assembled gathering also shared CAKE, Lisa’s remarkable sugar-free, gluten-free vegan cakes, for John was a great lover of good cake.
And perhaps inevitably, the wonderful sharing of memories and stories about John was ended with the old crooner, Frank Sinatra, singing ‘I Did It My Way’: so often a coarse karaoke cliché, these days, of course, but in the case of John Marjoram and his great life’s work, an entirely fitting ending to a memorable day in Stroud’s history.
