Quote of the day
“I know this is a sad occasion but I think that Dixie would be amazed to know that even in death he could draw a bigger crowd than Everton can on a Saturday afternoon.” Bill Shankly at Dixie Dean’s funeral. With apologies to non-football fans.
My Southbank Deathfest
Posted by Vale Some personal reflections on the Southbank Deathfest this weekend: Imagine a wire and steel footbridge over the Thames: brown water lapping, St Paul’s, pale in the wintry light, downstream. Drop down to buildings, a collection of concrete and glass halls that were modern once but which, in the way of those brave […]
The Travelers – Elizabeth Heyert
See the full photo essay (16 photographs) here. Over the course of one year (2003-2004) Elizabeth Heyert photographed the deceased members of a Baptist community in Harlem. Heyert took her photos at the funeral parlour of Isaiah Owens, one of the few places where the old tradition of festively dressing up the dead lives on. […]
Can you identify me?
Posted by Vale A young girl went missing. A body was found. A young man went to the police and said that she might be his sister. They said that was not possible; her age is wrong. That was how it happened back in 1994. Today, police are looking for this man. The man who […]
Singing them out
Here’s a lovely story from the Isle of Anglesey, reported by the BBC. A local funeral celebrant, Tim Clark, has founded a choir to sing at funerals. He has named it Threnody. Tim says: “Many [secular] funerals are at crematoria, where there is not a tradition of choral singing. We aim to change that, and […]
Coffin and splutterin’
In the correspondence columns of the Feb Funeral Service Journal we find this touching plaint. Dig the velveteen undertakerly verbals, especially in the first sentence: Dear Sirs Re: The missing link One of the fundamental items provided by a Funeral Director is the coffin used to contain the mortal remains of our clients’ loved ones. When we […]
Nice obit
Really nice recent obit here from The Times: Hilary Ruth ALLEN Hilary Ruth (nee Castle). The family are sad to announce, after a long and brave 3 year battle with cancer the death of Hilary in Salisbury on the 5th January 2012, aged 67 years. She was a wonderful mother, wife and friend, whose presence […]
Is this the industry’s High Noon moment?
The funeral industry is in a bad place. Public reaction to last week’s Which? report revealed few friends. It also showed it to be no good at defending itself. Things are going to get worse. Time is running out. At the GFG we’ve lost count of the number of calls we’ve taken in the last […]
Publishing event of the year!
The Natural Death Handbook, Fifth Edition A thoroughly updated and revised edition of the Natural Death Centre‘s celebrated handbook. Now presented alongside a new collection of essays on death, dying and funeral practices by doctors, historians, authors, poets, theologians and artists including Richard Barnett, David Jay Brown, Dr Sheila Cassidy, Charles Cowling, Bill Drummond, Stephen Grasso, […]
Open-air cremation
Buddhist monks and devotees stand around a pyre during a high priest’s cremation ceremony at the Heain-sa temple in Hapcheon, South Korea, on Jan. 6, 2012. The ceremony, called Dabisik, was held for Ji-Kwan, a former head of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. The Dabisik ceremony signifies the return of the human body to nature. The […]
