The last word in bucket lists
It was nice to have Ann Treneman write for us last week about the vital importance of specifying where you want your dust or ash to repose. But I’m afraid I’ve got a big problem with her book, Finding the Plot: 100 Graves to Visit Before You Die. Dang it, you pick it up for a gentle browse and […]
Location, location, location
Guest post by author and journalist Ann Treneman. Over the past four years, I have spent almost all my spare time in cemeteries for my new book ‘Finding the Plot: 100 Graves to Visit Before You Die‘. One of the key things that I have discovered is that having the right funeral is all about planning. There’s […]
Lest you forget
Remembrance Sunday brings the nation together in commemoration of those who fought and died in war. Old soldiers don their medals and attend church parades. Those who think this smacks too much of glorification mark the event in other ways. But no one will pass through Sunday and then Monday (11.11) unaffected by the anniversary. Everyone […]
While you’re at it, why not lob another ancestor cult into the pot?
As you don your sad-rags, zombie gear, horror clobber, skeleton onesie or whatever it is that floats your boat at this season which sees the ungainly coupling of All Hallows Day, Samhain and the Mexican Dia de los Muertos enhanced/corrupted by commercialism and rendered incoherent by cheap thrills and facepainting, the team here at the […]
The Other Taj Mahal
Received from Jo Vassie at Higher Ground Meadow, written by Times journalist Francis Elliot. To see photojournalist Simon de Trey-White’s full blog post with excellent and touching photos go here. Villagers made fun of former postmaster Faisal Quadri when he first began building a Taj Mahal replica on the land next to his house but no more, now he […]
Dead Art? Then and Now National Photo Competition
Press release from MAB to all you snappers The National Photo Competition sees its fourth year! Hosted by the Memorial Awareness Board and this year’s proud new sponsors Funeral Directors, Lodge Brothers, the competition is calling photographers of all abilities; all you need is a keen eye for stone memorials. The theme is stone memorials […]
Time creates constant anniversaries: 99 years, why not?
Posted by Richard Rawlinson We like round-figure anniversaries. They give us something to look back on to look forward to. Next July, the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I (28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918), expect the media to be awash with coverage, and our streets, churches and other buildings to be filled […]
What would you like to see on your TV?
When media people phone the press office here at the GFG-Batesville Shard, their requests for information often conform to whatever they suppose to be trending. “We’re doing something on living funerals. Are these catching on?” “No.” “We’re doing a documentary about the dying process and we want to film someone actually dying. Can you help […]
I like large funerals, they’re so intimate
Posted by Richard Rawlinson “I like large parties, they’re so intimate. At small parties, there isn’t any privacy.” With this memorable quip in The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald captures the emptiness of Jordan Baker, one of the flappers who attend the parties at the mansion of Jay Gatsby. A great thing about The Great Gatsby […]
For Father’s Day
Posted by Kitty My dad died when he was 70. Just a few years earlier, he had been diagnosed with leukaemia. It was my sister who realised that something was wrong. He was yellow. He hadn’t noticed. Too busy enjoying his well-earned retirement. His doctor told him he would die with it rather than from it. […]
