Investment opportunity, anyone?
A very nice man called Ken Kolsbun wants to develop his board game idea. The game is called Funeral Director — A Race to Your Final Resting Place. Says Ken: “My immediate goal is to finalize our game (e.g. refine board top and card design and text, color and design all game pieces) and submit […]
A brief history of undertakers
By Richard Rawlinson In medieval times, the word ‘undertaker’ was used vaguely for anyone undertaking a task, whether house building or funeral work. It doesn’t derive from taking the deceased six feet under but, by the 17th century, the term ‘funeral undertaker’ was being abbreviated to ‘undertaker’ and, as this association became widespread, folk in other […]
In jest?
Lockwood woman’s colourful funeral request – including a jester to walk in front of hearse Funeral director Debbie Ingham dressed as a jester at the funeral of Margaret Harper IT WAS a fitting end to a colourful life. Lockwood grandmother Margaret Harper had only one dying wish – that no-one wore black to her funeral. […]
The view below the radar
An article in the Times dated 15 July, based on an interview with Mike McCollum, ceo of Dignity plc, offers one or two (no more) features of interest. His definition of an undertaker? “We’re event organisers,” says McCollum. “We arrange a family event for you on very short notice, which you wish you didn’t have […]
Dark ops or what?
We’ve had a lot of correspondence here at the GFG since Dispatches flung that stuff about Co-operative Funeralcare in our eye (5 mins of telly souffléd into half an hour with a dollop of unleavened ombudsman). It’s been complaints, mostly, and of course I can’t go into detail about any of them. But almost all […]
The changing face of Irish funerals
By Richard Rawlinson Dublin undertaker Massey Brothers is responding to the changing attitude to religion in Ireland by offering families non-denominational funerals, online advice and motorbike hearses. While these initiatives may no longer be especially novel in Britain, they’re causing a bit of a stir in Ireland’s conservative, competitive and often quite unsophisticated funeral industry. There […]
Simple solution
We had an enquiry the other day about simple funerals. Our enquirer had visited the website of a funeral director, surveyed the components of their simple funeral (as prescribed by the NAFD at 11.4), and reckoned it would do nicely. The cost was £1640. All our enquirer wanted on top was a limousine. He gave […]
Grievers hoodwinked, run amok and bamboozled by their undertakers
In the Bahamas some people are worried about their unregulated funeral industry, just as some British people are worried about their own unregulated funeral industry: “Have the Bahamian people been hoodwinked, run amok, bamboozled, by persons purporting to be funeral service practitioners who are (actually) charlatans? Charlatans are impostors. Have we been hoodwinked, run amok, […]
You know my methods, Watson.
David Holmes, funeral director to the discerning folk of Surrey, recently got into a waterfight with the water board. Click on the photo to bring it up to full size.
Camref – the Campaign for Real Funerals
The departing board chairman of Golden Charter funeral plans offers this cold sweat-inducing warning to independent funeral directors in a valedictory address in the Golden Charter newsletter, Goldenews, which we are grateful to have had forwarded to us. He says: Co-op and Dignity have both acquired significant additional scale, and unquestionably they are operating with a […]
