Arrangements for the funeral of Barbara Osborn
Monday 1st March 2021
Babara’s family will be holding a ceremony on 1st March at the New Life Baptist church in Kings Heath to say goodbye to her. This will be followed by a short crematorium service.
Sadly due to the current coronavirus pandemic, funerals are being limited, so the service is by invite only, and is being kept extremely small in order to keep everyone safe.
Jane and Gillian understand how much Barbara meant to everyone who knew her, and recognise that many will wish to pay tribute to her in some way. They have prepared this webpage to include some of the music and stories that will be spoken about her at her funeral and hope that you will take some time to sit, safely in your own homes with plenty of tea and cake, and watch the video and slideshow as you would if you were present at her funeral. (Barbara specifically requested plenty of tea and cake for her funeral).
My Life in Brief – with music from Musicians from All Saints Church
Please click to view the address given by Rev David Warbrick
Philippians 4:4-9
“Look to the Lord and be radiant,” sings the Psalmist, as we remembered at Gordon’s funeral. “Look to him and never be ashamed.” (Psalm 34:5)
One of the most memorable scenes in St Luke’s Gospel (Chapter 2:25 ff) involves an impossibly moving encounter between four differently radiant people gathered around Jesus. It’s the day Mary and Joseph take their new baby to the Temple to fulfil the religious obligation by giving thanks for his and Mary’s safe delivery. There they are met by Simeon and Anna.
Anna, at 84, has bags of energy, full of sociability, wanting to speak to everyone, enthusing, yet with a certain political edge. It is the redemption of the whole city she is passionate about, not merely her personal piety (v38). There also is Simeon, also an older person, patient, prayerful, almost painfully ready to die, but relieved that, as God had promised him, he would see the messiah before he died. “Now you can let me go in peace,” he prays (v29). We don’t know if he was a father, but we know he understood the pain of parenthood, warning Mary that a sword would pierce her soul. There is Mary, already shown by Luke to be a reflective woman, storing these things and turning them over in her heart. There is Joseph, a very practical man, protective, St Matthew shows us, receptive to God’s guidance, taking dreams seriously.
All we have heard about Barbara reminds me how she helps us read these figures and recognise them, gathered around Jesus. Barbara’s conviviality and energy for conversation shot through with serious matters of faith and politics illuminates Anna. Anna helps us see the gravity of Barbara’s sociability. Like Anna, she chose not to be embittered by hard experience. As a child, feeling their home torn apart by night time bombs, that sky tearing, earth shaking terror of war, then to see a dying baby wrapped in her own dressing gown, a microcosm of intimate grief, made its deep mark on her soul. We have heard too much ghastly jingoism lately, but Barbara’s choice with her memories of war was not to be self righteous or isolationist, but to open her heart to the plight of refugees. Like Anna, she cared about the redemption of the whole human family. Again, just as Simeon knew Jesus had come for gentiles as well as his own people, we celebrate and admire Barbara’s inclusive and outward reaching faith, her ecumenical being, her sense of curiosity rather than fear about the world to be discovered. Barbara helped make space for others to learn, as we heard from her fellowship, but never stopped learning herself. She was one of the first and oldest investors in Power for Good, a cooperative encouraging the use of green energy. There’s that political edge again.
Barbara’s patience with her own physical decline showed grace and wisdom like patient Simeon. Like him she knew God has given the world enough to be saved if only it will look. Like him she was ready for her death. As we have heard, her reflective side was always there, however enthusiastic she was about raspberries and tea with visitors.
Who could have imagined that the childhood experience of a baby’s death in the bombing might somehow unknowingly prepare her for early adulthood when she and Gordon would grieve the loss of two little boys? The sword pierced their hearts. We have to spool back to hold them for a moment, honouring their grief and patient faith in the years when they really did not know whether they would be parents at all. Then they were overjoyed to welcome Jane then Gillian as gift, not entitlement.
Simeon and Anna both show a wonderful lack of self pity, which we have appreciated in Barbara. There is a gratitude marking her whole life that always kept that at bay. It is deeply moving that she first experienced Gilly’s taking orders as a loss, but then, keeping her heart open, exploring, she said she found healing of past grief at the Abbey. Her daughter had given her something new, not taken anything away: an unexpected nuance on the pain of parenthood.
Mary and Joseph alongside Simeon and Anna remind us how important it is not to forget the young man and woman still present in all our older friends and mentors. Practical and protective like Joseph, capable Barbara towed the caravan. Like Mary storing the details up in her heart and pondering on them, (Lk 2:19; 51) Barbara has always been attentive to moss and leaf mould detail, treasured the ordinary and made a feast out of a few raspberries, bequeathing that rich perception to Jane and Gillian. Those of us who have met Barbara in her last decades have met the vigorous traveller and sparkling young woman, too.
As with this service, music wove through Barbara’s life. The singer of Psalm 150 knew that, whether or not overtly religiously motivated, all music is a kind of praise: joyful or mournful, it is an expression and celebration of life. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Like Anna in the temple, all that musical energy in Barbara and Gordon’s house showed a life full of constant praise. Much as we treasure their public performance, the glimpse of them playing the quintet at home without an audience, just for the sake of it, is like the best prayers which Jesus commends, prayed in the secrecy of our little room. Then, through her teaching, Barbara has taught countless others such wordless praise. Gordon’s trombones now sound somewhere with a pupil’s breath. Next generation music teacher friends, the Brookes, play her piano. Sam Wilkinson has Barbara’s double bass.
To recognise Barbara in those four Biblical characters, and to let her help us read them, is not to idealise her, nor them. Indeed, we notice how Anna and Simeon insist on giving their opinion whether the young people want to hear it or not. We can admit that someone so deeply reflective can be a bit intimidating; someone so sociable can be demanding on anyone more introspective. We need not romanticise. But we can enjoy the remarkable balance we find in Barbara’s life and be deeply grateful God set her amongst us.
And there in the middle of the scene among those four people is Jesus. Just so, he was at the centre of Barbara’s life. His death and resurrection, enacted centuries later in Barbara’s baptism, would ignite the faith and praise of so many, releasing someone like St Paul from self-pity so he could write that magnificent farewell to his friends. You will find translations differ some saying “rejoice” and some saying “farewell” as the opening word. That’s because the Greek word means both. Far from goody-goody or naive, Paul’s commendation of trust and joy and his urging them to dwell on what is excellent and worthy of praise is astoundingly subversive when you consider he is writing as a political prisoner. And with Barbara, her Hebrew and Christian radiance was no cheesey happiness. Her gratitude involved her sorrow; her joy embraced her loss.
So we can rejoice as we say farewell to a woman who held Jesus in the centre of her life, banishing self-pity and defiantly grateful in sorrow. Attentive, practical, worshipful, funny, curious, passionate, eagerly youthful and wisely old, Barbara has helped many of us navigate, probably often without realising it. As she adjusts her vision to the light of heaven, what clearer glimpse of life in all its fullness, what more timely summary of the Gospel could Barbara leave us with than this?
“In the blackout we could see the stars.”
Audio only: Barbara - 9 decades in 9 minutes (..almost)
Click on the image below to view Barbara’s order of service.
Donations
Family flowers only please. If you wish to do something in Barbara’s memory donations are being collected for Emmaus UK- a charity working to end homelessness
You can donate by clicking this link.
Please share this page with anyone you feel should be aware of Barbara’s funeral.
Barbara’s family welcome any tributes, words of remembrance and stories about her so do feel free to leave any messages at the bottom of this webpage. (Please note comments are moderated so do not go live immediately)
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Barbara was a true friend to all.
Nothing that one can say, in such circumstances can adequately express the feeling which all entertain for her.
She wears a smile on her face and love in her heart.
She was greatly loved and respected by all and endeared herself to everyone.
We have lost a friend.
Love Barbara, sleep in peace!
I met Barbara when we both worked as string teachers in Sandwell, going back nearly 40 years. Our paths crossed frequently, directing orchestras and playing in them in schools and Sandwell Town Hall, she even gave me a few double bass lessons as I had to attempt to teach it! We were always good friends and after she retired I visited her and Gordon from time to time and they me. We had a lot in common, holidays, music……and guinea pigs! They always liked to see my holiday photos, especially as I had been to some interesting places at that time.
More recently I have visited her in her flat and we have been out a few times. A memorable outing in 2018 was to Coughton Court on a beautiful June day. We had lunch in the restaurant and went round the walled garden where she sat for sometime enjoying the flowers and the bees. Later the same summer she came to my house for lunch where we were also able to sit outside. When I have seen her subsequently she always mentioned how much she enjoyed that day.
I valued her friendship a great and will miss her very much.
I am writing to say that Barbara has had a lasting effect upon my life.
Each time I met her at ‘Together Group’ and at her home, I always felt calm and accepted.
I enjoyed her leadership and talks on music and on topics.
I always felt blessed when she prayed and have been assured in my walk with God.
Thankyou Barbara for your friendship.
After Martin died she invited me for tea with her and talked about my loss. I remember visiting her and Gordon in their garden just before he died. She was so calm and accepting of the situations and found herself trusting God for all circumstances.
We came home with fruit from their garden. She missed her garden so much when she moved to the flat.
She loved playing hymns for us at together and even when she could only use one hand she continued to play so we could worship by singing.
Through “Together” l got to know Barbara better, she was 6 months younger than me and we had both experienced childhood in World War2, Barbara went through the experience of being bombed out of her home in Birmingham but she came through a stronger person with the love of Jesus and the Church. Barbara also a lover of music which she shared with Together in spite of the difficulties of age preventing her hands from functioning as she would have liked on the key board.
I thank God for her friendship for the short period l have known her.
Thank you Barbara.
My fondest memories of Barbara are of her walking into ‘Together’ on a Wednesday morning enjoying a good cup of tea and a cow biscuit (malted milk).
She was a gentle soul and a truly lovely person.
Just a short note, letting you all know that we are deeply sorry on hearing the news of Barbara’s passing. The time my wife and spent getting to know her at our church will always be cherished.
Understand that I understand what you all are going through after my own loss last year.
Your family are in our thoughts.
God bless;
After knowing Barbara for over 28 years I have always found her to be a Christian who lived out the ‘Fruits of the Spirit.’
Always kind and caring and gentle in manner, she has always had a verse ready to encourage or to comfort and she was ardent in her prayers.
Barbara was a lovely person to be around and who would always interested in other people too.
Barbara was a lovely gentle lady, loved by all. She was very grateful when offered help.
Her faith shone throughout her life and she will be very much missed.
It seems strange to write about Barbara as she seems to be still with us.
She was a very integral part of ‘Together’ and I liked to hear her speak of her life growing up. It was so different from my own, she from a city, I from a small village in a South Wales mining valley
She was a very interesting person who took an interest in other people’s lives.
She loved music and was always able to find the right song to fit in with the Speaker’ subject at ‘Together’ and of course we must not forget Raspberries and cream at her house.
I’ll miss seeing her sitting in front of me at Morning Service when we once again meet on Sunday morning.
I got to know Barbara at ‘Together’. She was always calm and efficient whatever was happening. She was a great comfort to me when my mother died last year and I felt loved just by speaking to her. She was always cheerful even though some days were difficult.
I loved the days when we all went to her garden for our picnic lunch and were encouraged to go and pick the raspberries.
“I liked Barbara as soon as we met back in the mid-nineties. She welcomed me warmly when I joined the Together Group.
Being in a singing group with her until the first lock-down, she helped me with the music reading when there was something I did not understand. She made me welcome at her flat for coffee and a sing. After lock-down we had so many wonderful chats where we talked about so many things and little laughs about silly things we had done. I shall miss her very much.”
Barbara was probably the first person Maggie and I got to know well when we came to New Life and we were often invited to the house in All Saints Road, sometimes for a meal, and at other times to just sit in their garden and chat.
When we both lost our partners, and Barbara became a neighbour in Homepeal House, we still continued to have meals together and just sit and talk. Barbara’s stories, both concerning local history and about her life as a music teacher were always entertaining. RIP Barbara. I will miss you as a neighbour, a friend, and as a sister in Christ.
Let your gentleness be evident to all. Phil. 4:5 is a verse applicable to Barbara as this was her manner in what she said and did but she was not a pushover. I enjoyed her talks at the ‘Together’ group as well as her input into the discussions.
She was a great blessing to the group and to the wider church and will be sorely missed.
Indeed it was an honour to know Mrs Barbara in church in many different events such as tea at three and the Sunday services.She was a lovely creation from God that blessed all of our lives in so many ways.Ephesians 3:18 which say ‘Many have power,together with all of the Lord’s holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and how deep is the love if Christ.
God bless you.
You will be missed by us and many others farewell for now.
From us.❤
Barbara was my double bass teacher from 1972 – 77 at Camp Hill School. Not only that, she became a good friend, and I remember teas (and cake!) at All Saints Rd, and later in her flat in Kings Heath.
Barbara was an excellent teacher. In 1977 I had a lesson with the Professor of Double Bass from the Royal College of Music. He said that I had been very well taught by Barbara.
Barbara was a fine player herself. I was in the wings at the start of the overture to a show at Camp Hill when one of the cast said, ‘Wow, will you listen to that bass!’ Barbara could certainly play!
The last time I saw Barbara she mentioned to me that she had known my mother when they were teenagers in the 1940s, this was because they both took part in local music festivals. I’m very glad now that she told me, and I can picture the two of them.
Together with Gordon, Barbara was a great encourager and supporter of so many students and others. I was very lucky to have known them.
Rest in Peace Gordon and Barbara.
We met later in life to find we were related. I so enjoyed the times we met and I loved our regular chats.
We bonded over extending our knowledge of the family tree.
I will truly miss her.
Jane and Gilly Bean – what a long and full life your Mum had. Probably the last time I saw her was when she and your Dad provided a string quartet for our wedding reception 30 years ago. And some of the comments here have made sense of our other most recent memory when she prayed for us in church after our engagement party. And mentioned the cake.
We understand a bit of what this journey, for you, is like. Those Young Wives of Moseley Baptist Church have lived long and faithful lives.
Love to you from our nee home in Malvern
Thank you Jane and Gillian for putting this together, it’s beautiful.I was hoping to come and celebrate her life but of course we can’t with Covid 19 restrictions. I was sorry the service wasn’t going to be recorded for us to hear but this tribute is comforting
God Bless you both and the extended family.
For the funeral on the !st of March, St.David, patron of Wales
Dewi Sant
daffodils and leeks,
(for Welshmen did good service in a garden
where leeks did grow).
Dewi baptized the waters,
that turned around and flowed back to their spring.
Dust to dust,
ashes to ashes,
Light to Light.
Remember that
you are stardust
and that you are light.
A child of the earth and of the starry sky.
Waterfalls falling upward.
Dewi blessed the waters
and pulled the plough.
Gwnewch y pethau mewn bywyd,
Do ye little things in life, he said.
The cage is open, the dove is free.
I consider it a privilege to have known Barbara as a friend. She was such good company and so interesting to talk to. She was always very kind and welcoming. She was born in the same year as my mother, so it was interesting to compare stories of their wartime experiences. Barbara and I shared a love of tea and cake! When she could, she used to come to ‘Tea at Three’, an afternoon tea held once a month at church. I remember she particularly enjoyed the orange polenta cake, a new recipe I tried. She took an extra slice home to eat later in the week.
I will really miss Barbara, but I am so pleased she is now at peace, safe with God.
We had the joy and privilege of sharing a large portion of our early married life with the Osborn family. Gordon and the girls provided the perfect backdrop into which the generous and outflowing life of Barbara was set. In many ways Barbara espoused old world standards and traditions and yet, in other ways, she was ahead of her time.
She recognised, loved and valued the natural world and the environment way before it became fashionable to be ‘green’. She was an environmentalist who encouraged rather than condemned and one of our happiest memories is of helping Barbara organise a fundraising event during which we dined on a mixture of plants and recipes focused entirely on things grown in the family garden in All Saints Road.
In so many ways Barbara brought the best out of those who came into contact with her and we will miss her dearly.
As Jane’s sister-in-law I have known Barbara for over 30 years. I will remember her as a very gentle, incredibly kind lady who was always so interested in others news and similarly had wonderful tales of her own to tell. Her love of gardening and knowledge of home grown produce was always so insightful.
I have been fascinated to hear Barbara’s story, told beautifully by Jane. What an extraordinary 9 decades.
We enjoyed Barbara’s company so much on our visits together to Burnham Abbey, and also her hospitality inviting us and our husbands to tea at Holmpeal House. Always such interesting conversation, memories and stories.
It was a pleasure and privilege knowing you, Barbara, we will remember you.
Dear Auntie Barbara,
Thank you for always being there, even though we are so far away we knew you were always just a phone call away.
It was always lovely to hear your voice, you never pondered on the negative and were always upbeat, cheerful, happy and so very dignified, it was great to hear those wee snippets of family news updates and talk about life and what was happening hear and there.
We will miss receiving your Christmas and birthday cards for Lily & Charlie but will think of you at these times by pulling out the cards from you we have kept with notes and news in. We can then read them out during afternoon tea and biscuits and think of you.
Because of you we have lovely and fond family memories of family life that we will cherish and pass on especially the holidays spent at All Saints Road and Elmfield Crescent where it always felt like our second home, warm, welcoming and safe.
We will miss you very much but will cherish those fond memories of our time together.
All our love
Richard, Netty , Lily & Charlie xxx
So sadly missed!
Mrs Osborn , as I always referred to her, was my double bass teacher at King Edwards’ Handsworth Grammar School. She was a lovely lady and so supportive. I trained as a classical singer and when I eventually went freelance and returned to Birmingham to live, Barbara and Gordon often came to my concerts, especially if I was singing contemporary repertoire which they thought should be encouraged.
I loved my lessons with Mrs Osborn and she encouraged me to join the Birmingham Schools Symphony Orchestra which had a lasting impact on my life, both musically and personally as it was in the orchestra that I met my husband.
Barbara always showed interest in what other people were doing and how they were and offered sound advice when necessary.
We both shared a Christian faith, and in my church, The Salvation Army, we say that Barbara has been ‘Promoted to Glory’!
Thank you and God Bless you .
What a lovely tribute to a lovely lady. We lived next door but one to Barbara and Gordon in All Saints Road from 1989-1996 and have kept in touch since. I remember Barbara telling me how she loved to hear our children playing in the garden – they could make quite a lot of noise! In 1995 when I had Hannah in the November she would sometimes look after her in a morning while I did the school run to keep her out of the bad weather. Barbara loved that. I remember many happy times sitting chatting with Barbara in the house or garden and she was always interested in the family.
What a long and interesting life she has had and there are so many lovely comments about the way that she lived her life. It is a privilege to say we had a small part in that.
It is with much sadness that we hear that Barbara has passed. Our thoughts are with her family and wish them comfort and hope in their time of loss.
Memories of happy times with Barbara and her family, spent together researching family genealogy and history, with new friendships made and many stories shared.
A friendship over many years which stood the test of time and which will always be missed but remembered with much fondness.
So glad to have shared in Barbara’s life.
John & Mary Hancock, Paul & Julie
We knew Barbara from our days in Moseley Baptist church. One memory I have is of Barbara rehearsing a group of us to sing an anthem in a service. It was an enjoyable evening, and Barbara taught us with an expertise and a light encouraging touch. Since Moseley Baptist joined with Kings Heath , and we went to a different church , we saw her less often; but whenever we did meet her and Gordon it was a joy as they were both interesting, friendly and joyful people. Thankfully in recent years we visited Barabar in her flat and were able to hear some of her fascinating wartime memories. We will greatly miss her.
Barbara’s passing feels like the end of an era, though I know she would have wanted us to look forward. I grew up in Oxford Road, about half a mile up the road from Moseley Baptist Church. My father, Lester Mogford, sang in the choir there for decades and became good friends with Barbara and Gordon. He was drawn to the church by the musicianship and enthusiasm of Ken White, the organist and choirmaster.
After my father moved away and was widowed, Barbara and Gordon always made us welcome when we visited Birmingham. And likewise when it was just me and them, and latterly just Barbara and me.
It was lovely to reminisce with her. Her memory remained exceptional, as was her knowledge of the history of Birmingham. When exploring our personal memories she was invariably appreciative and good humoured, never morbid. It was always a cheering experience to talk to Barbara in person or on the phone.