Cathedral glows with colour for funeral of Rhys Jones

Sep 7 2007 by Caroline Innes, Liverpool Daily Post

THE family of Rhys Jones was joined by thousands of well-wishers yesterday as Liverpool united for the 11-year-old's funeral.

Well-wishers both inside and outside the city’s Anglican Cathedral created a kaleidoscope of colour as they heeded the request from Rhys’s parents, Melanie and Stephen, to wear bright colours to celebrate their son’s life.

Hundreds more gathered along the funeral route, particularly outside Goodison Park, home of the schoolboy’s beloved Everton FC.

Almost all of the 1,800 who crammed into the cathedral had chosen to wear something blue in recognition of the youngster whose life was callously taken as he walked home from football practice in Croxteth Park 16 days ago.

Liverpool supporters put Everton scarves around their necks as a mark of support and solidarity and some well-wishers had even made blue T-shirts emblazoned with the Everton crest and Rhys’s smiling face.

Everton FC chaplain Harry Ross, the vicar of St Luke’s at Goodison Park, swapped his black dog collar for a royal blue one in tribute to the child.

Melanie and Stephen Jones had worried that the mighty cathedral might be left half- empty for the service.

But such is the public outrage at Rhys’s senseless death, there was never any doubt the cathedral would be filled with those determined to offer their support to his family and celebrate his all-too short life.

As Rhys’s specially-made blue coffin was carried into the service, the congregation broke into impromptu applause which drowned out the sound of the football club’s Z Cars theme being played gently on the Cathedral’s organ. Mr Jones and his son, Owen, 17, bore the small coffin wearing Everton tops, with Rhys’s uncles, Neil and David Jones.

Rhys’s mother, Melanie, who was wearing a suit and an Everton scarf, wept as she followed her son’s coffin down the aisle, visibly moved by the sheer number of people who had flocked to pay their last respects to her son.

After Rhys’s young team mates from the Fir Tree Pub’s youth team each lit a candle, the Rt Rev James Jones, the Bishop of Liverpool, addressed the family.

He said: “Melanie, Stephen and Owen; in all the heartbreaking sadness of the last two weeks you, with Rhys, have become a beacon of light for our city.

“Your love for Rhys, your dignity and your family life have shone out and restored hope and honour to our community shamed by such a crime.

“You asked us to come in bright colours, even in football shirts, to celebrate the life and the light that sparkled out of Rhys.

“Some might have thought that dark colours were more suitable for the deep sorrow that has filled the heart of a nation.

“But you wanted the bright colours because they match the warmth and the fun that poured out of his young life, and from the one who always brought a smile to your face.

“The bright colours speak of Rhys’s irrepressible humour, his huge popularity that had people queuing at the door for him to come out and play and, of course, his passion for Everton and for football.”

He added: “Rhys loved being outside, like thousands of Liverpool children he loved the open spaces of Colomendy.

“That’s another picture of Heaven; the freedom of wide open spaces to explore, to have adventures, to play and have fun. That’s now his perfect world. Grief will always crown your heart.

“But in your sadness, know too that the Lord has Rhys safely in His care and that the Lord who holds Rhys also holds you in His arms.”

He concluded his sermon by adding: “You here on earth, Rhys in Heaven.

“His everlasting arms spanning both worlds holding the four of you together today and for all eternity.

“You in one arm, Rhys in the other.

“Death cannot separate you from God’s love and death cannot separate you from your love for him. That will last for eternity. You know that.”

An over-riding sense of solidarity filled the cathedral and united all who had attended.

Men, women and children, many of whom had never even met Rhys, wept, shocked and stunned, that such a young boy could be shot dead just metres from his Croxteth Park home, the innocent victim of an inter-gang feud.

Following the hymns All Things Bright and Beautiful, The Lord’s My Shepherd and Abide With Me, Rhys’s uncle Neil read a tribute to his nephew, A Memory of Rhys, and said communities could learn more about harmony and understanding from the 11-year-old, whose cheeky grin captivated everybody who met him.

He added: “Standing here talking about Rhys was easy but the circumstances are harder to take.

“He should be talking about me at my funeral years from now.

“He was football crazy and nuts about Everton.

“As his Red uncle, I ribbed him as a Bluenose.

“Football is nothing without rivalry, especially in a city like ours but life is nothing without friends.

“Some of Rhys’s closest friends are wearing shirts of different colours today but Rhys knew that they were friends first and football rivals second.”

All Everton players who were not on international duty attended the service, with Alan Stubbs, from Kirkby, giving a meditation called Walking with Grief.

Among others attending were Leon Osman, James Vaughan, Tony Hibbert and Phil Jagielka while Liverpool FC was represented by the likes of John Aldridge, Brian Hall and David Fairclough.

Everton manger David Moyes had wanted to attend the funeral but had to fly to Ireland following a death in his own family, while chairman Bill Kenwright was in New York on business.

Following the Commend-ation and Farewell, a rousing version of Z Cars was played and again the cathedral’s gothic walls echoed with applause.

Mr Jones stroked the side of his son’s coffin as he carried it from the cathedral before placing it in the hearse to be taken to a private burial service.

Weeping and being supported by friends and family, Melanie Jones then leaned into the hearse and gave her youngest son’s coffin a final kiss goodbye.

carolineinnes