Funerals
When we lose someone we love, we begin the difficult task of planning a funeral service and a very personal farewell that specifically suits that unique person now gone from our midst. I offer a ceremony which reverently but warmly celebrates a life now ended, an opportunity for a great send-off and fond memories amidst some kind of hope and even joy for the bereaved.
This can be through music, poetry, readings, eulogies and ritual, whether sacred or secular.
Funerals are as much for the living as the loved one who has died – maybe more so. Listening to the bereaved and delivering a ceremony they will treasure is paramount to my work.
In a funeral service we are touching something deeply extraordinary. We share in a rite of passage. It belongs to our tradition, to our culture; it is not prescribed by any one religion but comes from a yearning that is inside all of us. It is found when we move beyond meaning, because life only has meaning when we perceive it as a mystery.
In a funeral there is the need to capture the essence of the departed person. This involves their character, their spirit and their legacy. I set out to plan this according to what the family wishes. The collaboration of family and friends is vital in order to honour the departed in the most appropriate way. The bereaved are given samples of readings, poems, music, and a format for a method of making a eulogy.
Funerals - Respecting people of all faiths and those with none.
To mourn a death, to celebrate a life, and to bring comfort to the living.
Spiritual, secular, traditional or contemporary, It is all too easy at a time like this to gratefully accept the first suggestions made, only to later wish you had done things differently. One of the beautiful and unique benefits about choosing a celebrant to lead a funeral service is that I will spend as much time as needed with you prior to the service, usually within the comfort of your own home, building a relationship with your family, listening to your wishes, hearing your stories, your memories and the significance of your grief in order to gain a true sense of the person who has died. I will work alongside you and with great care compose a truly uplifting service which is totally unique to any other. This service will reflect the true character and nature of the person who has died, sensitively respecting and acknowledging any challenges they may have faced along life’s pathway, but most importantly celebrating the life which has been lived.
Family Participation
You may wish for family, friends or colleagues to participate in the service by means of spoken tributes, readings or live music. There are no set rules to this, and I welcome and encourage all those who wish to take part to do so in a way which has significance for them and for all those present.
I can also suggest symbolic elements which are meaningful to you and inclusive to all those present. Just a few examples of such symbolism may be a candle lighting ceremony, placing single flowers on the coffin during a reflective piece of music or as you leave the chapel, or releasing balloons outside the chapel directly after the service.
Where can a funeral take place?
Funeral services normally take place at a crematorium, cemetery or natural burial ground; however, either prior to or following a cremation or burial it is possible to have the ceremony itself in a more unusual or intimate location, for example a football club or scout hall, your own home, or even a care home if the deceased has been a resident, allowing other residents to be present who may otherwise not have been able to attend another venue such as a crematorium.
Other Services
I can also conduct:
Memorial Services: If the deceased has left their body to medical science, or in the tragic circumstances of a body not being located.
Scattering or internment of Ashes.
