The GFG Blog
2014Jan
Funerals, who needs em?
Charles
Jan
19
24 comments
When England first played Scotland, on 30 November 1872, both teams employed formations that would raise eyebrows today. Scotland went for a cautious 2-2-6 while England employed a more swashbuckling 1-1-8. The game was all kick-and-rush in those days. Kick-and-rush. It’s how businesses, anxious to futureproof themselves, respond to prophecy.
Calling all telegenic undertakers
Charles
Jan
18
1 comment
A phone call and two emails shattered the tranquillity here at the GFG-Batesville Shard late last week. The gist was: we are currently developing a new project for Channel 4, which will be an observational documentary series set in a funeral parlour. We envisage the series being warm and informative, recognising
Fusion funerals: Cockneys, immigrants and Hackney hipsters
Charles
Jan
16
2 comments
Posted by Richard Rawlinson The story of T. Cribb & Sons is one of business resilience in the cultural quicksand of London’s East End. A family-run firm of undertakers since 1881, its heritage is Cockney: close-knit, white, working class communities celebratory of both their roots and the material trappings of wealth:
Your number’s up and it’s 23
Charles
Jan
15
7 comments
The American writer William S Burroughes met a seaman, a Captain Clark, in the 1960s who told him that he had been sailing for exactly 23 years without mishap of any kind. That very day, Clark’s ship was lost at sea; it went down with all hands. As Burroughes pondered
Richard III’s reinterment remains unresolved
Charles
Jan
14
2 comments
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Will Richard III’s DNA-approved descendants scupper this May’s planned reinterment of his remains during a televised, Anglican ceremony at Leicester Cathedral? Having objected to Leicester’s claim to the last Plantagenet monarch, there’s now to be a judicial review in March aiming to annul Leicester’s license. Will the
Candlepower
Charles
Jan
14
5 comments
If you’re out in Soho on a Saturday night chances are, as you reel from one nightspot to another, that a fresh-faced young person will greet you with the somewhat discordant question, “Would you like to light a candle in a church?” Being idealists, these gentle, big-eyed souls are used
Big is beautiful
Charles
Jan
13
No Comments
Golden Charter just got bigger. It’s now going to be the conduit through which Sun Life will sell its over-50s life assurance plans to those who ask for a funeral benefit option. As Golden Charter say, this “significantly boosts Golden Charter’s market share and choice for consumers”. The reckoning is that
Seen and heard: should young children attend funerals?
Charles
Jan
12
5 comments
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Some say death is too sanitised these days, with few people dying at home where all the family can say goodbye, and with professionals now taking over the duties of preparing the body for the funeral. Has this social development made us over-protective of children, just as they’re
An Irish love story
Charles
Jan
11
6 comments
An elderly man lay dying in his bed. While suffering the agonies of impending death, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favourite scones wafting up the stairs. He gathered his remaining strength, and lifted himself from the bed. Leaning on the wall, he slowly made his way out of
Knights Templar ghosts walk among Bristolians
Charles
Jan
10
8 comments
Posted by Richard Rawlinson I’ve just seen a Templar knight in Bristol, walking the streets in helmet, chain mail and white tunic with red cross. This is not uncommon in a city with a rich Templar history, reflected by the station name, Temple Mead, and a Weatherspoon pub called Knights Templar.
