Revealed: the one and only fix for funeral poverty
The problem: The circumstances of the death do not admit of any effective competition or precedent examination of the charges of different undertakers, or any comparison and consideration of their supplies. There is not time to change them for others that are less expensive, and more in conformity to the taste and circumstances of the […]
Local and community
Guest post by John Porter My first job was in a local grocer’s shop. They boiled ham in their kitchen – hmmmm, I can smell it now – and would cut three special slices, carefully wrapped in greaseproof paper for Mrs Rogers who came in every Tuesday. She chatted for a while, nobody huffed and puffed […]
Serving gay and black communities
Guest post by Richard Rawlinson Recent talk about preferences for traditional or alternative funeral services was pretty much silenced by the word ‘choice’. In other words, whether it’s a requiem mass preceded by a Victorian-lite cortege or a liturgy-free, no-dress-code send-off in a field, give the punters what they want. This libertarian strain of relativism has […]
Hearse and one?
Guest post by David Holmes As the global recession took hold in 2008, families arranging funerals started cutting back on cost. First to face the chop (forgive the pun) was the lovely black limousine. And why not, they are but frippery, very non-essential, so why pay around £200 to hire one when you can easily do […]
We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.
Guest post by Mark Shaw All this talk of change has led me to look back. As I do, I have to accept I am old enough to have witnessed many changes. Not as many as some, and I hope many more still to see. The supermarket where I would once accompany my mother for the […]
How old school got to be old hat
I don’t know what undertakers think about while they’re queueing for the supermarket checkout, but if they have anything in common with 84% of the rest of the population they may be reflecting on how their shopping habits have changed since the recession. Just how many of them go on to make a connection with […]
Free until the point of death
Click the letter and you’ll make it bigger and readable. It’s from Angie Gunn, Mortuary Services Admin Co-ordinator at Stockport NHS Trust. It’s been sent to all local undertakers. “From 1 Oct, once all paperwork regarding the release of a body has been received, you will be contacted by a member of the Mortuary […]
Give others a chance to help pay for child funerals
What an interesting debate that was, the one about whether undertakers and celebrants should charge for the funerals of children. A great many people followed it silently; the 25 comments represent a tiny fraction of the overall readership. The debate was not conducted on a level of dispassionate logic, so neither side prevailed, but the heart-over-head […]
Why do kids go free?
“We lost our son at 22 weeks … My husband and I were not religious so we had a small cremation. The funeral company did not charge us for the service. A humanist also held a short service for us and yet again there was no charge. I know money isn’t everything but it was […]
Getting the best you can afford
When the GFG started blogging all of 6 years ago, an appalled and furious undertaker rang his solicitor and instructed him to take out an injunction requiring us to cease and desist. The solicitor told him it didn’t quite work like that; had the GFG libelled him? No we hadn’t. But we were doing […]
