Farewell

What follows is an article from the Peterborough Evening Telegraph. I can't bring myself to write about the funeral at any great length.

I'm exhausted mentally.

These last ten days have really worn me down on all levels, and trying to get back into the swing of things at work have been hard. Following my usual rest-days and compassionate leave my mind seems to have been all over the place. Though I have had much support from friends and family, at the end of the day going home to any empty house can give you way too much time to think.

But I shall not dwell, rather continue to celebrate the life of a quite wonderful lass.

On a clear, bright and crisp winter day, looking around the interior of a church packed to the rafters for one woman, you truly realise how many lives one person can touch.

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Sad farewell to Peterborough police officer

The funeral was held of [Stacey] of Yaxley, who died in a car accident on January 15.
She was a vivacious young woman who had longed to pull on a police uniform since the age of 10.

Last August, [Stacey's] childhood dream became a reality when she was accepted onto the tough training course.But the sheer pride of the Pc's family turned to utter despair when the blonde 20-year-old was killed in a tragic road accident.

The Yaxley woman was on her way home after completing her first night shift, when her car collided with another vehicle and veered down a grass verge on the A15, near Market Deeping, on January 15.

On an icy winter's morning, almost 400 mourners travelled to St Peter's Church in the village to pay their respects to fun-loving Stacey. As sunlight bathed the building and silence fell on the churchyard, a guard of honour made up of her distraught colleagues lined the funeral procession. Just the strains of the church organ and birdsong could be heard as the hearse, escorted by three marked police motorcyclists, arrived at the entrance.

At the request of Stacey's heartbroken family, everyone wore a hint of pink in a bid to celebrate the life of the "bright star" who lit up all whose lives she touched. As well as scarves, hats, boots and ties of that shade, all the police offices pinned a pink ribbon – the symbol of a breast cancer charity and the Pyke's chosen cause – to their lapels.

Stacey's white coffin, which was topped with flowers, her police hat and a ribbon, was followed by a second hearse filled with a spectacular sea of pink bouquets.

Her family, including dad David (45), mum Sue (42) and sister Stephanie (16), from Broadway, Yaxley, and her boyfriend, Tom Young (20), wiped away tears as they made the short journey to the service. Due to the volume of people filing into the church, many huddled outside on the gravel path to hear the moving and uplifting tributes to Stacey.

The Chief Constable's words reduced many of the mourners to tears.

He said: "She was energetic, lively and someone with real presence. She was bursting with enthusiasm and showed real courage. Sue and David, Stephanie and Tom, we share your sense of enormous loss. I have every reason to believe she would have excelled as she went on in the same way she started. We, as a society, take for granted the work of the emergency services, but I would like to pay tribute to Stacey's commitment, and it is clear that people are touched by her loss. She was a youngster, but was already making her mark."

He went on to praise her ambitious nature, adding, with a smile:

"She had a tremendous determination to single-handedly sort out all the problems."

When the Chief Constable spoke to a primary school friend of Stacey's, she told him how, as a wide-eyed 10-year-old, she had set her heart on becoming a police officer. He also recalled how the chatty youngster would stop and talk to the public on her beat, reassuring them with her friendly patter.

He said: "Stacey loved people and loved being a police officer. To all of us, Stacey was and always will be, a very bright star."

Stacey's dad David remembered how the day when Stacey rushed to tell him she had got the letter to say she had been accepted into the police force was one of his proudest moments.

Stephanie Pyke's heart-wrenching poem, which she had written herself, drew sobs as she struggled to convey just how much she would miss her big sister.

Recalling how Stacey would dress her up for the school disco and help with her make-up, she said:

"You weren't just my big sister, but my best friend. With you, I shared my troubles, secrets and wildest dreams. I have so many memories, I could go on all day, but I will treasure them in my heart. You were so beautiful with blonde hair and blue eyes, but to me you were my big geeky sister."

At the end of the tribute, applause echoed around the church and quickly spread outside. A new trophy for promising police recruits is to be dedicated in Stacey's memory.

Investigations into her death are still ongoing.