Sagewatch
Dedicated followers of Richard Sage will know that he is operating out of the Mayer Funeral Home. Invoices issued by the Mayer Funeral Home show that it is owned by Medi Call Southern Ltd, incorporated by Companies House on 07-11-2012. M-Call is – no surprises – an air ambulance business. Its SIC is given […]
New charity to help pay for funerals of babies and children
A new charity which will help bereaved parents with the cost of a baby or child’s funeral is being officially launched on Wednesday, July 23, with a special one-day seminar and exhibition at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. Child Funeral Charity (CFC), whose patron is well-known author and national newspaper advice columnist Bel […]
Why are men killing themselves?
In an article in a recent Spectator magazine, Elizabeth Hardman reflects on the problems that beset males today: The idea of women having a rotten deal has become so firmly entrenched in British public life that we have become blind to the problem emerging for the boys. Hardman gives evidence, including the suicide rate: This year […]
Let’s hear it for the killer anecdote
From The Times obituary for Walter Walsh: Walter Walsh killed people for a living. He was exceptionally good at it. But unlike many in his line of work, he never shot anyone who didn’t need shooting. Both as an FBI agent in the 1930s and as a marine officer during the Second World War, he comported […]
Zombied
The Birmingham Post reports the takeover by Laurel of 2 undertakers, WH Scott and Earl & Co. Scott’s is a business with no website but masses of barnacles heritage and a noble lineage stretching back over five generations. We trust that the present generation, the one that brought the proud dynasty to an end by cashing in the family silver, […]
Celebrating transition with ritual
Rituals for Our Lives A Rites of Passage Autumn School led by Gilly Adams and Sue Gill Monday, September 29th – Friday, October 3rd 2014 Halsway Manor, National Centre for the Folk Arts, Halsway Lane, Nr. Crowcombe, Somerset TA4 4BD It takes courage to mark key moments of change in our lives, especially if they […]
Why go there?
“If we want the deaths our lives deserve, we need to start talking about it,” advises a Times leader today. Yes, it’s Dying Matters Awareness week and all Funeralworld is a-flutter with wheezes to “start the conversation” and encourage people to make a will, jot down their end-of-life wishes and their funeral wishes, even […]
Doing them justice
Over on the Mindfulness and Mortality blog, in a discussion about funeral eulogies, Gloriamundi asks a good question: “Why do we seem to feel the need to sum up a life and pass judgement on it?” He goes on: “The torrent of unqualified praise that falls on someone who has just died is an expression […]
Where to be
Dying Matters Awareness Week kicks off next Monday. Over at DeadSocial, James Norris is getting his awareness-raising in early. He’s holding another of his pop-up shops — venue: 69 Camden High Street, London. On Tuesday, there was an art exhibition. Yesterday, the Natural Death Centre did its thing — lots of good stuff […]
Many Flowers in Carshalton (part 2)
Another day in the life of the Vintage Lorry Hearse. Often David Hall, of Vintage Lorry Funerals, is asked what happens if it rains during a funeral. Although under the deck of the 1950 Leyland Beaver there is a slide out drawer with a purpose built translucent sheet, this has been used only once in […]
