Florist of the Year
Debbie Western Debbie has a particular personal passion and an unrivalled gift for creating floral displays for funerals. She has supplied flowers for the sendoffs of celebrities. In an outstanding field, Debbie stands out because funeral flowers are her specialism. This is a matter of personal predilection rather than business opportunism: what Debbie loves most […]
British flowers for British funerals
At Lower Blakemere Farm in Herefordshire, Heather Gorringe has been growing British flowers for British funerals since just last year. She says: Most flowers for funerals are just too formal, too regimented, and often just too white. Our flowers will look as if they have been gathered from our garden (and many of them will have been). […]
A Giving Tribute For Lasting Memories
ED’S NOTE – Right back when A Giving Tribute was nobbut a concept, we loved the idea. Since those early days its creator, Liz Mowatt, has developed, trimmed and simplified her offer. She has persevered with the sort of grit and tenacity you’ve got to take your hat off to. We asked her for an […]
Sick ghouls
Two callous thieves who snatched floral wreaths from a crematorium so they could use them for free at a family funeral have been fined £35 each. Full story in the, you guessed it, Mail here.
Grave dressing at Easter
Posted by Vale On my way to the crematorium today I passed a family tidying a grave, clearing it after the winter and bringing fresh flowers for Easter. It reminded me of this description from the diary of Francis Kilvert. At the time of writing he was a curate at Clyro on the Welsh border […]
Muffle the bell, put crèpe on the door
Bouquet of Violets by Edouard Manet Posted by Kathryn Edwards AT no time does solemnity so possess our souls as when we stand deserted at the brink of darkness into which our loved one has gone. And the last place in the world where we would look for comfort at such a time […]
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, […]
If only they knew
Funeral flowers skipped for landfill at Coychurch crematorium. Why don’t they compost them? Because they’re full of wire and oasis; it would take too long to deconstruct them. Which is why natural burial guru Ken West calls this ‘grieving waste’.
