Unlikely bedfellows
Lifetime Achievement Award
Josefine Speyer, wife of the late Nicholas Albery and co-founder and patron of The Natural Death Centre Charity “Despite the list of contenders for this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award being jam packed with luminaries from the death world, the judges were unanimous in their decision that this year the award would be given in […]
Green Funeral Director of the Year
Lorna and Jo Vassie of Higher Ground Family Funerals Jo Vassie is one of the leading figures in the world of natural burial; her site near Dorchester currently holds the Natural Death Centre’s People’s Award for the Best Natural Burial Ground in the UK. With a custom built facility and a determination to be able […]
Wise words
Ru’s opening words to the assembled guests struck a chord with many who were there, so we thought we’d put them on the blog for the whole world to read. Over to you Rupert. “Welcome everyone to the Good Funeral Awards 2016! It started off, as so many good things do, in a sweaty basement […]
NDC birthday party
Nicholas Albery, founder of the Natural Death Centre By Josefine Speyer The Natural Death Centre was 25 years old on 14 April 2016! Celebrating this event with two Natural Death Salons to benefit the NDC. There are still places at the next Natural Death Salon on Sunday 8 May. We will be showing the documentary […]
Dying what comes naturally
On Thursday the GFG donated an entire day to the Natural Death Centre — an act of generosity which has earned us the highest self-praise. We agreed to deliver People’s Awards winners’ certificates to those owners and managers of natural burial grounds upon whom the People had bestowed them. As our 54-seater luxury executive coach […]
Natural burial ground of the year – the finalists
Fran Hall of the Earth-lovin’, sometimes subterranean (it is headquartered in a nuclear bunker) Natural Death Centre (NDC) tells us that, to coincide with Dying Matter Awareness Week, and to raise the profile of the great work being done by Association of Natural Burial Ground (ANBG) members, the NDC is announcing the regional winners in our […]
May we all unlearn our fear of death
There’s a good review of the Natural Death Handbook, fifth edition, in the Huffington post. Here are some extracts: The Natural Death Centre, the charity behind The Natural Death Handbook, exists to help re-open the dialogue about life’s end, offering a combination of practical advice, how-tos, go-tos, and reflections that inspire, comfort and challenge. At the heart of […]
Death lit
The Natural Death Centre now has its own online e-magazine. Aimed at consumers, it has features which will also interest funeral directors and celebrants. There’s a straight-talking feature about natural burial, an analysis of the rise of direct cremation, some radical talk about open-air cremation, a caveat emptor article for funeral shoppers by Jon Underwood, the […]
Whither consecrated woodland burial sites?
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Back in 2001, The Telegraph ran a story about the Church of England opening its first woodland burial site, Arbory Trust, a consecrated 40-acre plot in Cambridgeshire with trees and flowers replacing gravestones. ‘Other sites cater for pagans and ‘New Age’ followers and do not offer a Christian burial,’ claimed the newspaper […]
