Thoughts of a funeral-goer
Posted by Lyra Mollington ‘They’re dropping like flies!’ This was Daisy as she came in through our front door on Monday morning. Barry was close behind, shrugging his shoulders by way of an apology. I replied, ‘You’d better come in for a coffee.’ My (or rather Mr M’s) new espresso machine is proving extremely popular. Daisy […]
Where fresh air strikes openly and freely
In Namibia, Michael M Liswaniso, writing for AllAfrica.com, deplores the new custom of spraying air freshener at funerals. I will start by saying: Eish no please, enough is enough! It is partly inhumane and implies that our loved ones smell when we use air fresheners moments before we lower the coffin into the ground. I […]
Walking away
Public health, council or (a new term to us) public funerals are on the rise in Burnley Lancashire, a once-thriving mill town from which manufacturing has ebbed, leaving a generally impecunious population — but a halfway decent football team. A report in the Lancashire Telegraph tells us: In 2007 Burnley Council paid for three public […]
Second first of the day
Andy Clarke and his partner, artist Holly Bridgestock-Perris, have sold their first, innovative Curve coffin. Andy’s new concept was inspired by a “desire was to make a softer curved product, that moved away from the angular harshness of the traditional shape that’s been with us for hundreds of years, and yet retain the traditional robustness of […]
First first of the day
We stood and whooped and hollered here at the GFG-Batesville Shard when we opened this email from Darren Abey: Hi Charles Only Fools and Hearses have just carried out our first funeral in Berkshire. The family loved the send off , they said it was priceless and would never forget that their father had the best […]
There has to be dignity in death
Lynne Watson, a celebrant, has brought to our attention a powerful and poignant article in the Daily Mail. Thank you, Lynne. It’s about a doctor, Kate Granger, who is 29 and dying of cancer, has said no to any more chemotherapy. Here are some extracts to give you a taste: As a doctor, I am very […]
Death by Christmas shopping
Posted by Richard Rawlinson There was a time when the skull and crossbones symbolised ‘Danger’ when displayed on poisonous products or worn on the clothes of Punks, Goths, Hell’s Angels, pirates and SS soldiers. For some years now, it’s been a ubiquitous part of mainstream fashion, found on everything from Debenhams babywear to John Lewis cushion […]
Threnody: a progress report
Posted by Tim Clark Threnody is a group of people mostly drawn from the ranks of Bangor Community Choir. We are ready to sing at funerals in places that don’t normally have choral singing, particularly at crematoria. Charles has already been kind enough to feature us here, and I felt it might be time for an […]
Where’s the joy in death?
Posted by Kristie West The following is a transcript of the talk Kristie delivered at the Joy of Death convention, 2012. Kristie works with bereaved people. You can find her website here. “The Joy of Death” festival. What is that? Is it just a lovely quirky name for a festival. Or perhaps just a provocative and […]
Dead Good Culture?
Posted by Simon Smith What is affecting practices in the funeral industry and how can we improve them? There has been a deluge of bad publicity for the funeral industry in recent weeks with the two programmes, Dispatches on Channel 4 and Exposure on ITV1. This was at least partly offset by the positive view […]
