Graveyard snappers: the finalists
The Memorial Awareness Board has asked us to publicise the following competition and, of course, we are very happy to do that. The Memorial Awareness Board have been hosting a national photo competition. With over 200 great entries the ten shortlisted have been confirmed and their photos are now published on the website. We invite you to have […]
Book Review: R.I.P. Off! By Ken West
RIP Off! is Ken West’s thinly-fictionalised account of his pioneering introduction of natural burial to Carlisle in 1993. It contrasts the enthusiastic reception his invention received in the media and among the public with the fear and loathing it stirred up in local undertakers. They didn’t understand it. They saw it as a threat to their […]
Masses banned at the crem
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Priests have been instructed to stop saying Mass for the dead at crematoriums. They’ve been sent a letter by their bishops saying the order is not rejecting crematoriums but aims to bring people back into churches. Priests will be able to say a short prayer at a crematorium, similar to a […]
‘Selfie’ at Mandela memorial service
Posted by RR Was it okay or beneath their dignity for Obama and Cameron to lean in to a selfie with the leader of Denmark (Kinnock’s daughter-in-law) at the memorial service of Nelson Mandela? Michele comes across best here, IMHO.
Each to their own
Darius, a king of ancient Persia, was intrigued by the variety of cultures he met in his travels. He had found, for example, that the Callatians, who lived in India, ate the bodies of their dead fathers. The Greeks, of course, did not do that – the Greeks practised cremation and regarded the funeral pyre […]
Think globally, act locally
All other things being equal, the manner of the death and the age of a dead person determine the response. Diana, sudden, young = vast outpouring of grief. Mandela, protracted, old = vast outpouring of celebration. They said when it was all over that a factor in the lamentation for Diana was unresolved grief — […]
Why live music is best at funerals
Posted by Richard Rawlinson A follow up to Charles’s lyrical piece about the inadequacy of music at funerals. With recorded music at funerals, people tend to sit down, listen, tap a foot, perhaps, and, if it’s really working its magic, meaningfully relate the music to the memory of the dead person. Whether pop lyrics or piano […]
Let’s face the music and yawn
Poor Ed Miliband. Challenged on Desert Island Discs to name the record he’d take, if he could only take one, he abjectly nominated Robbie Williams’ Angels. Derision was universal and prompted David Cameron to make that quip about ‘loving Engels instead’. It prompted Janice Turner to observe in The Times: Music is rather overrated in my view, […]
Santa’s final ride
We are pleased to host a series of posts, in monthly instalments, recounting the adventures of Vintage Lorry Funerals. Here’s the second. Vintage Lorry Funerals took Santa Claus on his final journey in Bristol who was buried in his red uniform and black boots. It wasn’t Santa Claus, but a man who had played him in […]
Richard Mark Sage
Devotees of the above will be delighted to learn that he remains free and very much at large in all senses of the word. His trial was due to start at Blackfriars Crown Court yesterday, but he phoned in sick. Case postponed until June. There are times when the law looks like a sick joke. […]
