Will The Co-operative Group throw Funeralcare to the wolves?
On 2 July this year the Co-operative Group’s executive team visited Rochdale. The chief exec, Euan Sutherland, tweeted: “Spent the day at Rochdale Pioneers Museum with the Exec immersing ourselves in Co-operative heritage. Fantastic, inspirational, relevant”. All very heartening if you’re one of those who inclines to the view that capitalism is essentially sociopathic, and that […]
A warrior’s sendoff
It all started with an announcement in the Blackpool Gazette (above). Then it was taken up by Sgt Rick Clement of The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment. Rick lost both of his legs to an IED in Afghanistan. He runs a fundraising website “in order to give something back to the various charities that have helped me […]
Lest you forget
Remembrance Sunday brings the nation together in commemoration of those who fought and died in war. Old soldiers don their medals and attend church parades. Those who think this smacks too much of glorification mark the event in other ways. But no one will pass through Sunday and then Monday (11.11) unaffected by the anniversary. Everyone […]
When the fog feels like a cage without a key
All so-called caring professions suffer from it. The difference is that they talk about it. If the British stiff upper lip is making its last stand, it’s down among the undertakers where resistance is mutely fiercest. We’re talking about Can’t-Take-It-Anymore Syndrome, aka compassion fatigue, burnout, depression, nervous breakdown. Read all the symptoms here. How could […]
Remembrance Day #3
The window of the Individual Funeral Company, Oxford. Proprietor Lucy Jane tells us: ‘Almost everything in the window was donated by my cousins Lewis & Chay Coulbert and was used by them in Afghanistan. They also gave me lots of pictures. The large one in the front of the window is Lewis while he was […]
RIP R Sage ur a ledgend & ull be back
In case you missed it, the Mary Mayer Funeral Home, run by the mischievous Richard Sage under the moniker of Mark Kerbey, is in liquidation. He’s still there and was sighted at the crem a couple of days ago. Our spies have him under observation with strong binoculars. Where next will he rise again […]
Undertakers on parade
Undertakers aren’t noted for versatility when it comes to window-dressing, and they’re not to be blamed for this. If you’re in the death business there’re all sorts of things you simply can’t put on display. Not that this in any way excuses an assortment of dusty headstones and urns dotted by dead flies and […]
Introducing the Citroen Type-H hearse
You’ll be wanting to give a warm welcome to John Turvill’s Citroen Type-H van hearse. He’s been getting it ready for a while now, and we have enjoyed corresponding with him as he has drawn closer to launching. The website’s not finished yet — his photographer hasn’t managed to make time yet to snap it […]
Habeas corpse
Bristol undertaker Thomas Davis has been branded a “‘Burke and Hare’ operation” by MP Caroline Noakes after her constituent Peter Williams accused the undertakers of taking his mother-in-law’s body from Bristol Royal Infirmary and keeping it for ten days without asking. She said: “Thomas Davis acted unlawfully, because all that had been requested by the Williams family […]
