Choosing a headstone – advice and inspiration
Best Maker of Hand Carved Memorials in an Indigenous Material
Hannah Wessel of Stoneletters Fergus Wessel, founder of Stoneletters, is a master of his craft, and provides a personal, sensitive service for bereaved families. He operates from his workshop in the Cotswolds with his small team, and prospective clients are encouraged to go and meet him there to see his work up close and discuss […]
Look what’s waiting to land in your e-book library…..
Fresh out of the box and ready for reading, here’s the e-book that is essential for the library of anyone with an interest in anything funereal. Or actually anyone with an interest in life. Enough said. Published today. Buy it here.
Continuing bonds
From the ever-excellent Kenny Farquharson’s latest column in The Times: There were just two drinkers at the bar when I walked in. Once they had established I was not from “the social” they were warm and engaging. One stood nursing a whisky under a sign that said “Nicky’s Corner”. Would you happen to be Nicky, […]
Over to you!
We recently wrote to BBC R4’s Last Word programme suggesting they include more ordinary people – local heroes, we called them – here. We said: “The stories of those of our fellow-citizens who have lived and struggled and won some and lost some are moving and inspiring. All priests and funeral celebrants know this, […]
Diagonal Daze in St Mary’s Churchyard, Twyford
Posted by Eleanor Whitby I was wandering around a churchyard on that one sunny summer’s day, as you do, and came upon a few really lovely headstones. The first was surrounded by a burst of colour in a green area of flat memorials in the council owned section – I loved the smooth, pebble like […]
Tattoo – A friend in death?
The Rise of the Maori Tribal Tattoo By Ngahuia Te Awekotuku University of Waikato, New Zealand Body adornment – swirling curves of black on shoulders, thighs, lower back, arms, upper feet, rear calves – has become an opportunity for storytelling as well. Some symbols represent children born, targets reached, places visited, and increasingly, memories of […]
Muriel’s ashes
It was the Jubilee weekend and a year since we had all gathered around Muriel’s hospital bed as she told the Doctors that she wanted no more treatment, no interventions, no resuscitation. She told us she had had a wonderful life, she was ready to go, that she wanted to be cremated and she wanted her […]
Capturing a life
Posted by Richard Rawlinson From 7 Up in 1964 to 56 Up today, this remarkable documentary series has been filming the same group of people for a biblical seven days of their lives every seven years for almost five decades. Catch 56 Up on ITV at 9pm this Monday, and, if the last two episodes […]
‘Moose…Indian’ – whose last words?
Posted by Vale 150 years ago yesterday Henry David Thoreau died. I’ve loved him ever since I came across his views on the first transatlantic telegraph cable. Emerson had written in praise of it, but Thoreau – with something of the prophet in him – refused to be enthusiastic simply noting that “perchance the first […]
