The GFG Blog
2020Dec
So many layers of grief
Fran Hall
Dec
07
4 comments
Almost two months have passed. Seven weeks since Steve died. Seven weeks of rolling waves of emotions, of reflection and remembering, interspersed among the detritus of the life that was before. One of the things that resonates strongly with me as I walk every day is just how much grief
Stuff
Fran Hall
Dec
02
2 comments
In amongst all the swirling newness of life without Steve, there is also an extraordinary amount of stuff that sits silently waiting to be attended to. The stuff that he accumulated in his life. Mostly, it’s his clothes. Clothes are hard. Clothes are memories, of where they were bought and
2020Nov
The sun keeps rising
Fran Hall
Nov
27
7 comments
I took this photo on November 4th, the morning after Steve’s funeral. I was out walking before sunrise, on my own with my thoughts. As the inky blackness of the night sky gradually changed and lightened, and the orange tint of sunrise spread across the horizon, there was something so
Absolute Beginner
Fran Hall
Nov
21
8 comments
A personal story of grief There is a beautiful little book by Baptist minister Richard Littledale, called Postcards from the Land of Grief which my friend Clare mentioned to me a few weeks after Steve died. I recognise that description, with a jolt of familiarity – ‘the land of grief’.
Stop all the clocks
Fran Hall
Nov
07
4 comments
Time. Time and space and dates and days. Right now, I am finding these measures all bent out of shape. My perception is warped by profound events that I have experienced since the last post I wrote for the blog, in September. But I can see a thread
2020Sep
Choosing a headstone – advice and inspiration
Fran Hall
Sep
14
No Comments
Stone carver Fergus Wessel and his wife Hannah from Stoneletters have just published a beautiful new book called Headstones – Advice and Inspiration. The book is being sold to raise money for Maggie’s Centre, Oxford, and, in our opinion, it should be on the bookshelves of every funeral director
2020Aug
Finally!!
Fran Hall
Aug
13
4 comments
The Competition and Markets Authority has today published their Provisional Decision Report in the latest stage of their Funerals Market Investigation. It’s a long read – 472 pages in fact, with appendices being published next week, but you can read the short summary version here. In essence, the CMA
2020Jul
Coping with a pandemic – a funeral director’s perspective (iii)
Fran Hall
Jul
16
No Comments
The latest in our new series of posts collecting the thoughts and experiences of funeral directors who have worked through the Covid-19 pandemic is from Jo Williamson, founder of Albany Funerals in Kent (top right in the Zoom image below). “As the government continues to lift the Coronavirus lockdown restrictions
Coping with a pandemic – a funeral director’s perspective (ii)
Fran Hall
Jul
10
No Comments
In our new series of posts collecting the thoughts and experiences of funeral directors who have worked through the Covid-19 pandemic, today we hear from James Showers, of Family Tree Funerals in Stroud. “Thank you for inviting us to share our experience of recent months. Family Tree Funerals ran in
Coping with a pandemic – a funeral director’s perspective
Fran Hall
Jul
06
1 comment
The GFG Blog has been unnaturally quiet during the last months. The unfolding catastrophe of the UK’s experience of Covid-19 has rendered us almost completely silent. Whether it is 44,220 as today’s official figures show, or many, many more – over 65,000 as suggested by the Financial Times analysis –
