God can heal
From this morning’s Times: A Christian group is to be allowed to claim “God can heal” after an Advertising Standards Authority ruling. Healing on the Streets, based in Wiltshire, can use the phrase only on its website, which the authority has said is outside its jurisdiction and not in printed material. Outside its jurisdiction?? Bafflement […]
Linda Demelza Robinson
Posted by James Leedam It was with great sadness that I heard that Linda Robinson died at the weekend. I received a telephone call from Diane Thomas, of Humber Woodland of Remembrance, to let me know that Linda had died. Diane didn’t know that we were in fact expecting Linda to arrive any minute with […]
‘Your stories’ invitation 2
NIGHTMARE FUNERAL? No one likes funerals but have you had an especially bad experience? Did it cost far more that you expected? Were you poorly treated? Was it simply not the send-off your friend or relative deserved? ITV are making a film investigating the funeral industry and we want to hear about your experiences. Please […]
Quote of the day
“The challenge in our industry is that our families have almost no idea what benefits they want, much less what they need. The obvious result is a focus on price.” Lajos Szabo, US funeral director
Put it where we can see it
In the US, funeral directors are required by law to give funeral shoppers a copy of their itemised General Price List (GPL). You can see an example here. A funeral director must also give you this price information over the phone. Time moves on, and the internet is now, for many funeral shoppers, their first […]
Bloggus interruptus
This blog is asserting its freedom to say and do whatever it likes by decamping to the seaside for a few days before heading to Scotland for the birth of a granddaughter. During this time it is likely that normal service will suffer some dropout as the team here at the GFG-Batesville Tower sports in the […]
Down to Earth wants volunteers
Down to Earth Mentoring Programme Down to Earth is now recruiting volunteer mentors to support people on a low income as they deal with the funeral planning process. What will mentoring for Down to Earth be like? Challenging but rewarding! You will work closely with individuals and families on low incomes who are organising a funeral—sometimes their own. You […]
Thoughts of a funeral-goer
Posted by Lyra Mollington Apart from a brief encounter with cancer when I was in my forties and a slightly dodgy back, I am in good health for a 74 year old. Neverthless I was perturbed to discover that I am only six months older than Jane Fonda. However, as my mother used to say, […]
200 years since our PM was shot
It’s quite a year for anniversaries from the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee to the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens. It’s also a year when deaths are commemorated from Captain Scott’s failed mission to the South Pole in 1912 to the sinking of the Titanic in the same year. Less well known is that 2012 […]
Thoughts of a funeral-goer
Posted by Lyra Mollington Nearly twelve years ago, I was with my grandchildren in the queue for the newly opened London Eye when we saw an elderly man collapse. Paramedics arrived quickly but by the time the man was lifted onto a stretcher, a blanket had been pulled over his head. It took […]
