A fitting tribute to Sir Donald Sinden
Posted by Andy Clarke and Holly Bridgestock-Perris On 11 September the world lost one its finest actors of screen and stage. Sir Donald Sinden died at home at the age of 90 following a prolonged battle with cancer. The national press has given praise for his extensive work and his contribution to British acting. They have fully covered […]
My first funeral
Posted by John Porter I think a personal reflective piece is in order following my delivery yesterday of my first fee-paying funeral ceremony as a recently qualified Funeral Celebrant. I will not forget it for several reasons. The first reason is that I was sunning myself beside a swimming pool on a sun-drenched Greek island when […]
Who’s sorry now?
The baby ashes scandal which broke at Mortonhall crematorium quickly spread to other crematoria in Scotland. Will it develop into a UK-wide scandal? Have other crematoria been failing to recover ashes from infants despite the availability of forty-year-old science showing that a foetus as young as 17 weeks’ gestation will, if cremated gently, yield ash? […]
QSA is hiring
Quaker Social Action is looking for two exceptional people to join our team. Down to Earth development worker Full time, £26,522pa, Bethnal Green, London. Down to Earth is a unique project which works with those on a low income in east London who are face planning and paying for a funeral. We step in […]
Always alive
“I met the poet James Turner in my twenties: no one reads him now, yet to me he is always alive … You too must have people like that in your lives, people who are not alive in the physical sense, but remain alive in some spiritual way, which you retain in your head, in […]
How Mortonhall happened
By Ken West We are now aware that Mortonhall Crematorium cremated hundreds of babies and infants, and denied that any cremated remains existed. The recent report by Dame Elish Angiolini condemned this practice and exposed it as a scandal. More recently, the Infant Cremation Commission chaired by Lord Bonomy has reported. Anybody reading these reports […]
The FBCA – an apology
In the light of the Report of the Infant Cremation Commission by Lord Bonomy, 17 June 2014, I invited Ken West, a former manager of Emstrey crematorium, to give his interpretation of the training and practices which had led to the events which the Report investigated. At the same time (28 June 2014) I […]
Friday poem
Roadside Flowers by Paul Wooldridge The trees along my route are wrapped in flowers, quickly passed each day but only noticed by a few. Their colours burst then slip from view as each is lost, submerged in grey, their brightness all too quickly sapped.
Funerals for Football Fans
Posted by David Hall Although Lorry Drivers are top of the Vintage Lorry Funerals customer league table, they are closely followed in the number two position by Football Fans. Some Football Fan business has been derived from the 1950 Leyland Beaver’s red and blue livery and funerals have taken place for Fans whose teams play in […]
Branding
Posted by John Porter Strangeways prison, Manchester 1982, pre riot. I was a student on placement and during my first week asked an officer what the red and white cards meant outside each cell. “White means CofE and red is for ‘left-footers’ – Catholic.” Nothing for Jewish, Muslim, Sikh or any other religious flavour! I saw “HIV” on […]
