Way to go?
All things pass. In twenty years from now we shan’t be doing funerals as we do them today. Another good reason for not buying a funeral plan. Incremental change, say a great many reformers, will bring this about. Eventually. It’s worth keeping a weather eye for radical change, too. A few of us have been […]
Would you book doves for your funeral?
Posted by Richard Rawlinson I’ve always associated the ritual of releasing white doves with Hello!-funded weddings between footballers and the singers in girl bands. They make a cute photo-op as they flutter from their gilded cage, perfectly colour-co-ordinating with the bride’s gown. They may symbolise love, peace and faith but, at a funeral, might they […]
When is a grave not a lifestyle accessory?
A dead priest, buried in the grounds of the school he founded, is in danger of being dug up and moved so as not to be in the way of the school’s new owner. Father Jarzebowski, a Pole, bought the school in 1953 for fifty quid. There, he educated the children of Polish émigrées until […]
A community funeral society
Posted by Charles I’ve always liked the idea of Viroqua, Wisconsin. It seems to be the hometown of a lot of very nice people, all four and a bit thousand of them. Viroqua was dubbed ‘The Town That Beat Walmart’ in 1992 because its small businesses are able to compete with the monster and hold […]
Cherry blossoms
Posted by Vale Blossom bursting from bare wood, old hearts crack open spring sunshine. There is something unlooked for in the pleasures of spring: light, warmth and the flush of blossom; a sudden generosity beyond expectation. Japan marks this annual marvel by holding blossom viewing parties. It’s part of a culture which reverences nature by […]
What price value?
Over at the Connnecting Directors website here there’s a rant by a funeral home consultant, Alan Creedy. In it, we see amusing similarities between the US funeral industry and our own: Why do funeral professionals spend so much time fighting among themselves and never fighting for themselves? … Why is so much emotional energy spent on […]
Thoughts of a funeral-goer
Posted by Lyra Mollington I’ve been rumbled. My grandson let it slip that I’m writing for the Good Funeral Guide. My sister Myra has just phoned me – and she seems to have forgotten that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. M: Congratulations on your new hobby. What on earth possessed you to […]
Green cremation
It’s interesting to see how Resomation is taking off in the US — green cremation, they call it. Great name. In addition to the eco credentials and the energy efficiency of these Resomators, we wonder how just how attractive to US undertakers, sorry, funeral directors, is the lovely whiteness of the ‘ash’ you get from […]
A folklorist’s funeral
There’s a very charming and touching account here of what would conventionally be reckoned the very alternative funeral of Thomas Hine, pictured above. His beautiful Leafshroud, below, was made by Yuli Somme here.
London’s finest independent funeral directors
Posted by Richard Rawlinson I’m posed with a dilemma here, a choice between topicality or taste. Oh, publish and be damned. Forgive the timing in this, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year, to raise the subject of Her Majesty’s official undertakers, Leverton & Sons, a 200-year-old family firm of funeral directors that has served London for […]
