All Greek to them
If you are one of many who has incredulously endured a funeral conducted by a minister of religion for a dead person of known no faith, spare a thought for the people of Belgium, where the language feud (Dutch vs French) means that if you’re a French speaker in a Flemish suburb of Brussels, your […]
The Grim Stopper
England’s World Cup 1-1 draw against USA was brought about by the butterfingered England goalkeeper Robert Green. By way of neat symmetry, it’s worth recalling that when the USA achieved a shock win over England at the 1950 World Cup, the star on the day was the USA goalkeeper, Frank Borghi. And the point of […]
Only in America?
Scheduling a funeral for a loved one is not easy, especially when you can’t afford one. That’s the situation the family of Clementina Michelle Hagin, 34, found themselves in after her death Thursday. On Saturday afternoon, Lynn Sims, Hagin’s pastor at Life Changing Outreach Ministries off Martintown Road in North Augusta, organized a car wash […]
Anything in it?
Perhaps the most important recent consumer information to reach the public domain was the SAIF IPSOS-Mori price comparison survey (26 Feb 2010) which showed that “Average funeral directors’ charges are highest for Dignity funeral directors and lowest for independents. Co-operative Funeralcare branches fall between the two.” SAIF wouldn’t share these results with the Good Funeral […]
Chasing the money
Sometimes a google goosechase can take you to interesting places. Where did I start? I wanted to find out the current average price of a simple funeral. I found a Guardian article which concluded with a tranche of good advice from Anne Wadey, author of the Which? publication What To Do When Someone Dies. Which?, […]
Death Matters
I don’t know if you ever wander over to Death Matters. It’s a descriptive title for a website and blog which is trying to awaken in a death-denying people a full and informative awareness of their mortality – in order that they may live better and remember better. It’s a one-person enterprise. We don’t know […]
Carla: last post
If you haven’t got to know Carla yet, go to her blog. It is one of the most extraordinary documents you will ever read. The last post has just been published. It is the eulogy Carla’s son Maclen delivered at her memorial. Find it here.
The difference between you and it
I think we’ve all done some good hard thinking, over the last few months, about the value and role of the dead body at a funeral. The discussion of this, and other matters, has elicited some extremely interesting ideas and some statements which, to my eyes, look likely to become axioms. I’m thinking of Gloria […]
Maggie Brinklow on what makes a good funeral
Everyone agrees that choice in funeral arrangements is a good thing. Even the UK’s most Jurassic undertakers are nodding their heads fervently on this one. They’ve come round at last (sort of). It’s the mantra in Funeralland: Personalisation x 3 (I can’t be bothered to type it). There’s money in it, of course. Because personalisation […]
Coherence vs incoherence
More resonances with Rupert Callender’s post in the latest Chester diocesan newsletter. In it, Bishop Peter Forster talks about funerals: I have been thinking recently about funerals – not my own, particularly, although having just obtained my bus pass (and other welcome perks) in idle moments that has crossed my thoughts. My mind has been […]
