Tea and Sympathy
One of the most wonderful things about being a celebrant is being introduced to music and artists we’ve never heard before. Tea and Sympathy by Janis Ian I don’t want to ride the milk train anymore I’ll go to bed at nine and waken with the dawn And lunch at half past noon and dinner […]
Bloggledegook
Around 200 dedicated normal funeral sites have been created in the British, and the industry in the British isles includes a program code of training used through The Organization of Natural Funeral Coffee grounds. Ha Ken Gulf, professional cemetery via 1961-2006, and life-long amateur naturalist, launched wood land funeral as a principle to the City […]
When death is no longer the worst thing that can happen to you
It’s not the worthy efforts of the members of the Dying Matters coalition that have raised awareness of the need to talk about death and dying. What’s actually got more and more of us talking is our personal experiences of the difficult and protracted end-of-life suffering of members of our families. Alongside twenty-first century death […]
Funeral attendance in a transient, modern world
Posted by Richard Rawlinson (who is 100 today) The love between husband and wife or parent and child is natural, bred into us over millions of years. Not so friendship, apparently. Until farms and villages started to appear around 35,000 years ago, people allegedly refused to talk to each other, networks of friends being anathema. Fast […]
What taught Chuck about death?
We like Chuck Lakin at the GFG. We’ve blogged about him here and here. Here’s his reply to the question ‘When did you begin learning about death?’ The precipitating incident was the death of my own father. This was in 1979 and he was home for the last six week of his life, and I’m […]
An intimate and loving burial
When Alex Dudley-Smith’s mother died this month, she set about organising a fitting sendoff for her. Here is her account of what she did. The unexpected death of my mother meant we were not prepared in any way for the organisation and costs of a funeral. This is the first time I’ve been responsible for […]
Where did it all go so terribly wrong for the Co-op?
The GFG is relentless in its criticism of Co-operative Funeralcare for two reasons above all. First, we believe that Funeralcare does not operate in accordance with the vision Rochdale Pioneers, who would be dismayed, at a time of rising funeral poverty, to see the way Funeralcare treats the poor. Instead of focussing on its core […]
Dilemma over memorialising slaughtered innocents
Posted by Richard Rawlinson I wonder how Pope Francis felt about his duty last Sunday. His predecessor, Pope Benedict, announced the canonisation of 800 unknown people just before dropping the bombshell of his resignation. By carrying out Benedict’s decree in St Peter’s Square last weekend, Francis instantly broke the record for the pontiff who has created […]
Not in front of the family
Funeral directors have strong and varying views on what families should and should not be allowed to see — in the families’ best interests of course. Some undertakers are heavier-handed than others in the way in which they express their advice. The law is perfectly clear: the dead person belongs to the family, not them. […]
Forward into the past
Most progressive initiatives in the world of death and funerals are characterised by a spirit of ‘Stop the clock, I want to go back’. Up in Tyneside, Michele Rutherford (DipFD) has just launched a retro initiative. It’s for those people who don’t want men in black macs taking away the person who has died, but […]
