What’s next?
Don’t underestimate the insistence of the human ego on a negotiated immortality and the dread of losing even this. If all the people on earth die, and there are no more to come, it also means that my traces, my genes and the children who carry them, my influence on others, words I have written and […]
The Protestant death ethic
WHEN any person departeth this life, let the dead body, upon the day of burial, be decently attended from the house to the place appointed for publick burial, and there immediately interred, without any ceremony. And because the custom of kneeling down, and praying by or towards the dead corpse, and other such usages, in […]
The Other Taj Mahal
Received from Jo Vassie at Higher Ground Meadow, written by Times journalist Francis Elliot. To see photojournalist Simon de Trey-White’s full blog post with excellent and touching photos go here. Villagers made fun of former postmaster Faisal Quadri when he first began building a Taj Mahal replica on the land next to his house but no more, now he […]
Funerals as psychotwaddle
Writing about contemporary American memorial services (ashes optional), Thomas Long describes a funerary trend that some might discern in contemporary British celebration of life funerals — if you subscribe to his bracingly reactionary death-view: Even when they are crafted by caring people who are full of goodwill, these services often lack coherence. At their worst […]
Requiem for the topper and the silver-knobbed cane?
Writing in the spring 2013 issue of the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management Journal, the editor, Bob Coates, writes: What was once the abnormal is now the normal with respect to funeral ceremonies on our premises … Less enamoured, however, may be the funeral director. Some may find the frankness of discussion, particularly over […]
Stuart Goodacre, Gravedigger of the Year, on the Beeb
Stuart Goodacre, Gravedigger of the Year 2013, appeared on R4’s Pick of the Week. He is the third winner of a Good Funeral Award to be interviewed on Britain’s premier spoken word wireless station. This isn’t silly-stuff publicity, it’s serious publicity. Start listening at 26.44. Hear the full interview on Radio Lincolnshire here. A good […]
Good job
One in six UK households struggle to pay for a funeral. UK funeral debt is worth over £130m and is rising. QSA seeks a funeral poverty officer to take significant steps to influence policy and practice in both government and in the market to help more people nationally who are struggling to pay for a […]
Dead Art? Then and Now National Photo Competition
Press release from MAB to all you snappers The National Photo Competition sees its fourth year! Hosted by the Memorial Awareness Board and this year’s proud new sponsors Funeral Directors, Lodge Brothers, the competition is calling photographers of all abilities; all you need is a keen eye for stone memorials. The theme is stone memorials […]
Black or coloured?
Posted by Richard Rawlinson With the trend for approaching funerals as celebrations of life, I gather it’s become more fashionable to wear bright colours that challenge the convention of wearing black for mourning. Is this the experience of undertakers and celebrants here? If so, are people dressing down in line with the general trend for more […]
Why scientists dismiss NDEs as psychedelic trips
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Scientists have observed that when Near Death Experiences (NDEs) are occurring the pineal gland releases DMT, a powerful hallucinogen. DMT is produced at night and small amounts are secreted as you dream. When you die, a large amount is secreted. Many say this is the cause for these NDEs, mere hallucinations and […]
