Thought for the day: What song will you have at your funeral?

My Way is very popular; Time To Say Goodbye ,Wind Beneath My Wings and Unforgettable are real favourites too but what about having something a little different?

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, that always brings a smile but some people really push the boat out and I did once have to question if one family were really sure that they wanted Elvis Presley singing Burning Love as their loved one departed! “Oh yes,” they replied, “he would have been so happy to think of all the smiles and horrified faces.”

Other original choices have included Puff the Magic Dragon, the theme to Spongebob Squarepants and also Thunderbirds but I once had the most unusual and yet beautifully appropriate recording played at a funeral.

It was the sound of a steam train leaving the station, whistle blowing and that wonderful noise of the wheels as they turned on the track. You see the man who had died loved steam engines, he had worked on them as a young man, and his widow told me that he always considered it the best sound in the world.

This got me thinking. It seems easy to pick a song for my funeral but what sound could I select, and likewise what sound might you choose to recall memories of happier days?

One sound that always stays with me is the sound of my grandfather tunelessly whistling as he walked around the garden inspecting his vegetable plot.

So what will it be for you? Birds singing? The sound of the Lancaster bomber flying overhead? A football crowd cheering? The waves crashing to the sea shore? Maybe that steam train?

Why not give it some thought and then you could get your family to play it at your funeral or better still why not seek it out again and rekindle your own memories of days gone by. The past can be such a lovely place to visit.