We apologise for pulling the post on CommunityFunerals.org.uk without explanation. The website came under sustained and relentless attack from YouKnowWho. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. At this moment, 23 men in oily overalls and bearing large spanners are working round the clock, without breaks, to restore the site.
All shall be well, and all shall be be well and all manner of thing, etc.
The team at the GFG-Batesville Tower
The Six Feet Under Convention 2012 will pilot the first Good Funeral Guide Awards Ceremony to recognise outstanding service to the bereaved.
The awards will be made in the following categories on the basis of nominations received by the general public:
The Nate Fisher Award for the Most Promising New Funeral Director
The Frederico Diaz Embalmer of the Year
The Eternal Slumber Award for Coffin Supplier of the Year
Most Significant Contribution to the Understanding of Death in the Media
(TV, Film, Newspaper, Magazine or Online)
Crematorium Attendant of the Year
Best Internet Bereavement Resource
The Blossom d’Amour Award For Funeral Flowers
Funeral Celebrant of the Year
Cemetery of the Year
Gravedigger of the Year
Funeral Director of the Year
Best Alternative to a Hearse
Book of the Year
(published after 1 May 2011)
Lifetime Achievement Award
Anyone can nominate a person for the award.The awards ceremony will be on the evening of Friday 7 September 2012 at a prestigious hotel in Bournemouth. It will be hosted by Charles Cowling, founder of theGood Funeral Guide. The winners will receive a small trophy and a certificate in recognition of their achievement.
Said organiser, Brian Jenner: “The funeral industry has many characters and styles, we want to recognise the diversity of the industry and allow the public to have some say in what they think is good. We thought we’d trial this format in 2012 to see if it’s an effective way to acknowledge outstanding service to the bereaved.
“We’ve already had some nominations. Barry Albin-Dyer and Ken West (father of natural burial) have been mentioned for their lifetime contributions. In the alternative hearse category, we’ve had a mention for Paul Sinclair, the motorcycle hearse rider, and Clare Brooks and Michelle Orton, who run the Volkswagen campervan hearse service.”
Anyone wishing to nominate should send an email with a written recommendation (no more than 100 words) to say why they think the company or individual is worthy of the award. If you think that you deserve an award, then nominate yourself.
Please include an address and telephone number. Your citation may be quoted at the award’s ceremony on Friday 7 September 2012.
Email your entry to: goodfuneralawards@sixfeetunderconvention.co.uk by Monday 6 August 2012.
Six Feet Under Convention website here.
Whoops! Should have posted this yesterday.
NGUDZENI – The funeral of King Maja II, leader of the Mamba clan was unique in more ways than one.
He was buried in the morning yesterday inside a cattle byre.
Secondly, his body was carried in a specially designed casket worth E25 000, bought from Dups Funeral Home Services.
King Maja II, whose birth name was Mntonsundu Mamba, was buried at Ngudzeni Royal Kraal yesterday morning. He was 67.
The funeral was attended by over 1 000 people who included close members of the Mamba clan together with residents of Ngudzeni and surrounding areas.
Before the funeral, the late king’s body was kept in a house that had been built specially for the funeral.
The funeral started with a service that began on Friday night and lasted until 4am yesterday. After the service, which saw more singing than speeches, elders of the Mamba clan began preparing to take the body to its final resting place.
Only men were allowed to come close to the house, especially when it was time for the body to be taken to the cattle byre for burial.
The men were given an instruction to first remove the windbreakers made of reed, which had been erected in front of the house. Close family members were then allowed into the new house to take the casket out.
Those who were present marvelled at the casket that had been made specifically for the king.
Women sat down as the casket was taken to the cattle brye.
From the house, the body was taken straight to the cattle byre situated about 300 meters away from where the body was housed.
Along the way, traditional songs (umgubho) were sung as the casket went past the people who had attended the funeral. The songs were sung until the casket was taken into the cattle byre. Making in into the cattle byre were mostly men.
Only a few women were allowed to enter and these were those close to the family.
After King Maja’s casket was lowered, warriors (libutfo) sang traditional songs for about an hour before the grave was covered with sand.
They sang different songs which include a song titled ‘Inkhosi Maja,’ which was sung twice. When one of the warriors started the song, almost everyone who was inside the cattle byre joined in.
Women who were standing outside also sang along. As the funeral proceeded, most of those who attended were heard talking about the unique casket.
Some of them wondered why the casket had been made pentagonal while others speculated about the price.
Addressing the mourners after the funeral, Mphosi Mamba, King Maja’s brother, thanked those who attended the funeral saying everything went according to plan.
Mambas also sent condolences to the people of Ngudzeni and Sithobelweni for losing their leader.
King Maja II was responsible for both the Ngudzeni and Sithobelweni Royal Kraal. The Sithobelweni Royal Kraal is situated in the Lubombo region while Ngudzeni is in the Shiselweni region.
The deceased was the son of Princess Phetfwayini – the daughter of King Sobhuza II.
While still serving as a member of the King’s advisory body, he was involved in a near fatal car accidentwhich resulted in him receiving treatment at Imphilo Clinic (now Manzini Clinic).
Some of those who attended the funeral included Minister Patrick Magobetane Mamba, Ndumiso Mamba former Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and his brother Clifford, who is Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.
The funeral lasted until 9am as the warriors spent time preparing King Maja’s grave.
Also of note was that the media at the funeral was warned not to take any pictures of the casket being lowered into the grave.
Journalists were also warned not to take pictures of the warriors who were busy covering the grave with sand.
DEAR ABBY: My father passed away four years ago. Right after his funeral I found a bottle of Viagra hidden in the trunk of his car.
My sister and I agreed that we should keep it to ourselves and not tell my mother, but Mom and I are extremely close and I feel guilty keeping this secret.
My father had multiple affairs while he was married to Mom, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he was cheating on her. Because of conversations that I have had with her, I am 100 percent sure she didn’t know he was buying generic Viagra online and using Viagra. My mother remarried two years ago. Does she have the right to know, or should my sister and I take it to our graves?
— Two sisters in California
DEAR SISTERS: Your father’s time on earth is over. Your mother is happily (I hope) remarried and has gone on with her life. I see no reason to revisit your father’s probable indiscretions at this late date. It’s time to let him and this subject rest in peace.
Promession has been a talking point ever since it was first described. It has not yet come to market, causing people to wonder if it ever will. When we raised doubts over whether the process is in fact able to reduce a body to organic powder by means of gentle vibration we received a lawyer’s letter from Promessa, the only time anyone has proposed to sue this blog for libel. We’re running the same risk again today.
When licence-holder Promessa UK pulled out of the project a few weeks ago they issued this damning conclusion: “In Promessa UK’s professional opinion and after a lengthy period of due diligence Promessa UK believes Promession is still at concept stage.”
Somewhere in all this lies the verifiable truth — demonstrable scientific fact.
Bill Curbishley, manager of totemic Who drummer Keith Moon, has received an invitation from the London Olympics committee. They want Moon to play at the closing ceremony.
Curbishley said: “I emailed back saying Keith now resides in Golders Green crematorium, having lived up to the Who’s anthemic line ‘I hope I die before I get old’. If they have a round table, some glasses and candles, we might contact him.”
I am about to — or I am going to — die: either expression is correct.
~~ Dominique Bouhours, French grammarian, d. 1702
Posted by Vale
As the government launches its health and safety ‘myth squad’ we look back to the days when public health documents didn’t mince their words. Prepare for the Ride of Death:
This manual for bike riders identified the risk these innocent youngsters faced as they rode their bicycles with ghoulish relish:
You can read the whole manual here.
No pic. We can’t post a photo of the same old bloody bonfire every time we run a story about open-air cremation.
Southland, New Zealand.
When Chris Ramage’s brother John died in hospital of natural causes just before Christmas 2011, his nephew (John’s son) wanted to witness his father’s cremation. In Chris’s words, “He wanted to cremate his father and he wanted to be present when it happened. The crematorium people weren’t going to let that happen – so he did it himself.”
He did it with Chris’s help. They built a huge fire which burned for two days.
The affair has been investigated by the police and the case closed.
It is legal to cremate dead people in New Zealand, but you’ve got to do it through the necessary paperwork. Sergeant Lury said: “It is my understanding that if he had asked for a certificate he would have got it.”
Campaigners for open-air cremation in the UK might do well to investigate the NZ model.
Full story here.
This was played last week at the funeral of Andy Bowes of Barrow-in-Furness. He died aged 37 after an accident at work, leaving a wife and three children.
Andy’s sister said this about him:
You wanted to go everywhere with me, which became a pain when I got older. I remember looking in the mirror once and saying ‘I’m going on a diet’, and he said ‘can I come?’ When I left home, he was still my little shadow. What I would give for you to walk through my door right now and shout ‘all right, sis’.
Full report in the North West Evening Mail here.
Come up to meet you, tell you I’m sorry
You don’t know how lovely you are
I had to find you
Tell you I need you
Tell you I set you apart
Tell me your secrets
And ask me your questions
Oh, lets go back to the start
Running in circles
Coming up tails
Heads on a science apart.
Nobody said it was easy
It’s such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start.
I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science
Science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart
Tell me you love me
Come back and haunt me
Oh, and I rush to the start
Running in circles
Chasing our tails
Coming back as we are
Nobody said it was easy
Oh it’s such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be so hard
I’m going back to the start
Read more: http://artists.letssingit.com/coldplay-lyrics-the-scientist-3spq2t1#ixzz1qu7aKL7V
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