Have your say
Happy Monday, everyone. If you come to this blog wondering what’s kicking off, chances are you’ve got something to say yourself. If so, we’d like you to. The GFG’s a talking shop. We don’t have an editorial line, we don’t have a manifesto. Come one, come all; we’re Funeralworld’s Speakers’ Corner. If you’d like to […]
Undertakers — what are they really like?
“In numberless instances the interment of the dead is in the hands of miscreants, whom it is almost flattery to compare to the vulture, or the foulest carrion bird.” Writer in Leisure Hour, 1862
Hurrah for Dignity!
Announcement by the Press Association: The UK’s largest provider of funeral-related services has reported higher profits after its strongest year for the number of families planning ahead for a death. Dignity, which has 600 funeral locations including 35 crematoria, said the number of pre-arranged funeral plans on its books and yet to take place increased […]
Blazing indignation
The infantile superficiality of the media’s treatment of issues around death and funerals is something we’ve deplored frequently on this blog — and today’s news is that things haven’t got any better. Instead of giving serious consideration to what a crematorium might do with the heat it is compelled to capture from its waste gases, […]
Thoughts of a funeral-goer
Posted by Lyra Mollington We were both in sombre mood as we travelled back along the M4 in Myra’s bright yellow Honda Jazz. We’d had a slight tiff as we viewed the flowers after Trevor’s funeral. Whilst I was keen to go back to the house for light refreshments, Myra was going on about the […]
Thy fibres net the dreamless head
Old Yew, which graspest at the stones That name the under-lying dead, Thy fibres net the dreamless head, Thy roots are wrapt about the bones. The seasons bring the flower again, And bring the firstling to the flock; &; in the dusk of thee, the clock Beats out the little lives of men. O, not […]
Victorian deathmyths
Here’s a collection of Victorian superstitions around death and funerals. Of course, everyone didn’t believe all of them but, even so, it’s remarkable (perhaps) how few have survived. If the deceased has lived a good life, flowers would bloom on his grave; but if he has been evil, only weeds would grow. If several deaths […]
Bad teeth
We like this account of the dangers posed by mercury emissions from crematoria: Mercury is an odd element. It is a metal, yet liquid at ambient temperature and it is very volatile, easily becoming a gas. Keep in mind mercury is an element, therefore cannot be destroyed. When mercury is emitted from the stack of […]
Top tips for funeral shoppers
Josh Slocum, Executive Director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance in the USA, is a major hero to all who toil at the GFG-Batesville Tower. Here he is talking on the telly about funeral pricing and home funerals. It’s interesting to note the similarities with the British funeral industry, in particular consumers’ disapproval of the marking […]
People are still dying of old age. What are the damn medics doing about it?
Extracts from an excellent article in the Washington Post: I know where this phone call is going. I’m on the hospital wards, and a physician in the emergency room downstairs is talking to me about an elderly patient who needs to be admitted to the hospital. The patient is new to me, but the story is […]
