TO the strains of You'll Never Walk Alone, Robbie Gee and Paul Barker,
the two Merseyside schoolboys who went on a fishing trip to a local
beauty spot and were later found stabbed to death, were taken to their
final resting places yesterday.
Gerry Marsden, who recorded the Liverpool football song, was among
those who sent wreaths to the funeral service at St David's Church in
the quiet little community of Eastham, just across the river from
Liverpool.
Robbie, in particular, was a Liverpool supporter and one of his
heroes, John Aldridge, was among the mourners. The number nine jersey of
another of his heroes, Ian Rush, was among the items which adorned the
altar, banked with orange, yellow and cream flowers.
Shops closed and crowds lined the streets as Robbie's cortege came
down from Darleydale Drive, towards Paul's home at Raeburn Avenue and
the two hearses came side by side as they approached the church. On the
way, they paused by South Wirral High School, where the boys should have
resumed their studies next week.
Lennie and Kathryn Gee came with the coffin of their only child.
Richard and Pat Barker comforted their 11-year-old daughter, Hannah, as
they all joined hands for the funeral of the inseparable friends.
It is hard to fit a tragedy which shocked the nation into the mundane
setting of a community which we would all recognise. Eastham, once a
picturesque village known for its ferry which plied across the Mersey to
Liverpool, is now an attractive surburban area. Avenues run into wooded
beauty spots like that where Robbie, 12, and Paul, 13, had gone that
last Saturday in July at the start of the school holidays.
They had set out on their mountain bikes for the kind of innocent
fishing trip which would reassure most parents at a time when the safety
of their youngsters has become the paramount consideration.
When they had not come home by teatime, their fathers began their own
search and then reported them missing. First the police found the boys'
fishing tackle, still set up by a pond. Early next morning they found
Robbie's body, with knife wounds, lying under some trees. That afternoon
they found Paul's body on the banks of another pond, about 500 yards
away.
Yesterday the minister of St David's United Reformed Church, Dr Peter
Foster, led the tributes to the two lads, along with Bishop Alan
Winstanley.
As they played a recording of Everyday by Phil Collins -- a favourite
of both boys -- Dr Foster recalled that Paul had been especially
thrilled to be at one of the star's recent concerts. He was an
easy-going lad whose best birthday present had been membership of the
fishing club. Paul was a keen member of the Boys' Brigade in the church.
Ironically, it was his grandfather, 77-year-old William Barker, who
introduced him to the sport he came to love so much -- the sport that
lead to his tragic end.
Robbie was the football enthusiast, supporting both Liverpool and
Tranmere Rovers. There were tales of pranks and good-natured mischief as
well as love and caring.
Bishop Winstanley said: ''Robbie and Paul had many happy times
together, they lived their lives together and lived them to the full.
They are still together.''
Dr Foster told the parents: ''In your very action of bringing your
boys together to this place, you are declaring to the communities of
Eastham and Bromborough, perhaps even to our nation, that the real
values in life lie in the mutual responsibility which they shared, in
the deep and lasting friendships which they forged along with others
present today, of life lived and enjoyed to the full in family and
community.
''Your vision of a place of safety and of beauty for the community and
for its children, to be enabled by the trust fund which you have asked
to be set up, will I believe be a sign of hope in our midst.''
In a highly-charged service a crowded congregation sang Oh Love That
Wilt Not Let Me Go before WPC Joanne Johnson, who counselled the
families, read the famous poem by Henry Scott Holland, about death
taking you merely into the next room.
A teenage girl, Rebecca Gentry, who lost a friend in another tragedy,
sent a poem, God Will Look After You, My Dear. The headmaster of the
boys' school, Mr Wynn Francis, read the 23rd Psalm, The Lord's My
Shepherd.
As the coffins emerged from the church to begin their separate
journeys, Kathryn Gee clutched a single red rose and little Hannah
Barker clung to her teddy bear.
Paul's cortege headed for private cremation at Blacon, while Robbie's
went along the road to Plymard Cemetery. As they lowered his coffin his
mother cast the single rose into the grave.
The wreaths which lay around included one from schoolfriends, two of
which were shaped as footballs and one in the form of a fish,
symbolising not only the boys' favourite pastime but Christianity
itself.
Now there was a weeping in the summer wind for two young lives, wasted
and gone forever. No sense in this. No logic, prompting thoughts of what
has gone wrong with the world. Just two small coffins -- and two
families soon to know the loneliness of an everlasting private grief
when public sympathy and concern have moved on to the next unthinkable
tragedy . . . and the next.
* Mr Steven Heaney, 36, of Sutherland Drive, Eastham, has been charged
with both murders. He was twice remanded and is due to appear in court
again on September 12.
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