Now with streaming video
Posted by Vale The Lancashire Telegraph reported last week that it is planning to put a video streaming service into it’s Burnley Crematorium. The chapel proved too small on over 50 occasions last year and, with the video service, people would be able to watch the ceremony on a big screen or over (a […]
My Southbank Deathfest
Posted by Vale Some personal reflections on the Southbank Deathfest this weekend: Imagine a wire and steel footbridge over the Thames: brown water lapping, St Paul’s, pale in the wintry light, downstream. Drop down to buildings, a collection of concrete and glass halls that were modern once but which, in the way of those brave […]
Publishing event of the year!
The Natural Death Handbook, Fifth Edition A thoroughly updated and revised edition of the Natural Death Centre‘s celebrated handbook. Now presented alongside a new collection of essays on death, dying and funeral practices by doctors, historians, authors, poets, theologians and artists including Richard Barnett, David Jay Brown, Dr Sheila Cassidy, Charles Cowling, Bill Drummond, Stephen Grasso, […]
Transparent funeral pricing (Disinfectant part 2)
How can you give people clear simple information about the likely cost of the funeral they are organising? It sounds easy but in practice it can be the hardest thing in the world. How do you listen, share, sympathise and support people in all sorts of distress? How do you help them start to […]
Fair dos for Henry Scott Holland
Posted by our religious correspondent Richard Rawlinson In this initial blog, Fr Tim Finnigan explains his irritation with this famous reflection on death by the Anglican Canon Henry Scott-Holland (1847-1918): “Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as […]
Plumbline and square – the Masonic funeral
Some Masons call their funeral ceremony an Orientation, but these days the service itself can be like a secular ceremony – apart, of course, from the Masonic ‘paraphernalia’. Masons are a great deal more open about their ceremonies than they used to be, but much of what they do still seems esoteric and mysterious. Borderzine […]
You have 30 seconds – impress me
You’re the first internet based funeral service. You want to make sure people know you are different and you have 30 seconds of TV time to get your message across. How would you do it? Yesterday we presented the advertisement that Basic Funerals in Canada created. You can see it here. We thought it was […]
Fair comment?
Posted by Vale Here’s a story from last Friday’s This Is Local London website. Teddington campaign group launches petition against spiralling funeral costs Campaigners have encouraged people in the borough to sign a petition against rocketing funeral prices. The campaign group Fair Funerals aims to raise awareness about the sharp increase in prices in the […]
The Surprising Satisfactions of a Home Funeral
Posted by Vale “So a few weeks before Bob died, my 15-year-old son, Harper, and I made a coffin out of plywood and deck screws from Home Depot…We routed rabbet joints for a tight construction. “I guess we wouldn’t want him falling out the bottom,” Harper said. “That would reflect poorly on our carpentry skills,” […]
A good funeral: part 1
Posted by Sweetpea In the light of our recent discussions about the merits of secular, civil and religious funerals, one interesting thread started to appear. Namely, what should a funeral not fail to include? Can a funeral ever really be meaningful to anyone? Does any funeral do the things that people need it to do? […]
