What a smashing funeral!
Posted by Richard Rawlinson I’m revisiting a post by Charles in January about whether a funeral can ever accommodate the venting of chaotic feelings generated by death. If so, what behaviour can be ‘officially’ appropriated: formalised wailing, hurling plates against a wall, a punch bag in the vestibule, or even a bout of fisticuffs between mourners? […]
As you get older your friends start to die.
Posted by Sue Gill We’ve been to some truly awful funerals and I’m sure we’re not alone in that. Sometimes the ceremonies were healing, but more often they were formulaic and irrelevant, and we left feeling sometimes angry, sometimes guilty, frequently in despair. That’s what compelled us to write the Dead Good Funerals Book, to offer […]
Is ceremony dying?
Posted by Richard Rawlinson This seems a strange question just after economically-challenged Britain has hosted the Olympics, a no-expenses-spared ceremonial games that unites nations in celebration of sporting prowess. But as the cult of individuality nibbles away at established social conventions, more and more people seem to be caring less for ceremony on a more intimate […]
Interdependence
Posted by Vale We were saying farewell to a very old lady – nearly 99 – who had spent her last years living in a care home. She had no family there and, apart from myself and the organist, there were just four people present, all of them members of staff from the Care Home. […]
What the faith?
Posted by Reverend Noel Lockyer-Stevens, One Spirit Interfaith Minister Ed’s note: Noel is writing in response to Richard Rawlinson’s challenging post here. The undertaking of a funeral service is for me one of the most privileged roles I undertake within my ministry in Dorset. I am sure that every minister, ordinand and priest feels the […]
The order is rapidly fadin’
Blog reader Kathryn Edwards has drawn our attention to an interesting article in the Guardian. Thanks, Kathryn. In it, Rosanna Greenstreet tells how her aunt Molly donated her body for medical education or research, thereby denying everyone the benefit of a funeral. Greenstreet tells us what family and friends did instead: Molly didn’t believe in […]
All things bright and beautiful?
Posted by Belinda Forbes The sun is shining again here in leafy Berkshire. The mourners no longer need to huddle for warmth in the crematorium waiting room. The cruel winter wind that has been whipping across the chapel entrance is now a gentle breeze. Unfortunately, I’m allergic to tree pollen so it’s not all good news. Although I […]
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 […]
What makes a good funeral?
Posted by Vale Would a traditional religious ceremony with six lacklustre hymns, a perfunctory celebrant and no mention of the person in the coffin count as one? I expect most of us would say no – but, sometimes, I wonder. We often talk about the grand and the personal, the expressive and moving as though […]
Thoughts of a funeral-goer
Posted by Lyra Mollington The lovely Mr Cowling and his little friend Vale have kindly invited me to contribute to the splendid GFG. As a lady of a certain age, I have attended more than my fair share of funerals, becoming something of a connoisseur. I have also attended more than my fair share of […]
