Thoughts of a funeral-goer
Posted by Lyra Mollington With the ‘Funeral Services of the Christian Churches in England – New Edition’ tucked safely in my bag, I set off for the crematorium. I planned to go to the office and apologise for inadvertently taking it. I decided that this would be more dignified than replacing the book surreptitiously during a service. […]
No, you can’t
Extracted from ThisIsLeicestershire: Teaching assistant Pam Goodwin, 44, who worked at Highcliffe Primary, in Birstall, died at home in the village on June 6, of cancer. Head teacher Pauline Aveling said: “Pam was a wonderful character and a pillar of the community. She worked very hard to help the children in her care. She was loved […]
Great biz idea for somebody
Why (oh why) has no one developed a waterproof teddy bear for child graves? Can’t be rocket science, surely? Come on, you budding entrepreneurs!
The order is rapidly fadin’
Blog reader Kathryn Edwards has drawn our attention to an interesting article in the Guardian. Thanks, Kathryn. In it, Rosanna Greenstreet tells how her aunt Molly donated her body for medical education or research, thereby denying everyone the benefit of a funeral. Greenstreet tells us what family and friends did instead: Molly didn’t believe in […]
Quote of the day
“It is costly to our society in general, quite beyond the church, not to observe the death of a person in a way that witnesses to the dignity of the person and the meaning of life and death.” Thomas G Long Source
Can you help?
Space burial is about sending a portion of cremation ashes into space, then releasing them so that they can orbit the Earth. Up in Glasgow, Tom Walkinshaw is developing his own space burial programme. It’s ambitious stuff. He’s won an award from Glasgow Caledonian University and he has the support of the Prince’s Scottish Youth […]
Different cultures, different customs
Very interesting photo-essay here about the ghats at Varanasi. Good text, too. Sometimes poorer people cannot afford enough wood to completely burn a body. In this case charred body parts are simply flung into the river with the ashes. Certain people, such as small children, pregnant women and holy men, are not cremated at all, but […]
Doctors need to grieve, too
There’s an interesting piece in the New York Times here about the emotional difficulties doctors experience when working with people who are going to die. People often characterise doctors as cold and uncaring when, in fact, they may simply not be coping: We found that oncologists struggled to manage their feelings of grief with the detachment they […]
What do Quakers and atheists have in common?
Posted by our religious correspondent, Richard Rawlinson You’d think Quakers and atheists were poles apart but I’ve been pondering a similarity. On the surface, Quaker funerals are very different from humanist funerals, and that’s aside from faith in God. The former involves silent reflection and prayer, the latter tends to be dominated by words and music […]
Channel 4’s Dispatches set to rumble the undertakers
“Dispatches lifts the lid on the funeral industry. Using undercover filming, Jackie Long investigates what really happens to our loved ones when they die.” Monday June 25 at 8.00pm. Channel 4. In certain districts of Funeralworld, fear stalks the streets. Cancel all other appointments.
