Too Soon, Autumn
Get back on the trees you errant leaves! How dare you fly across my path so soon? Forget your cheering colours, green will do. My body has not had enough of summer. Margie McCallum
Where would we be without a sense of humour?
Germany! It’s an old Willie Rushton joke. And of course there’s no truth in it whatever. I have been contacted by a Year 12/13 student in Germany. Her name is Julia and she is working on a project which I want you to help her with – if you can. Julia’s working title is “How […]
Go, Bede!
The present life of man, O king, seems to me like to the swift flight of a sparrow through the hall wherein you sit at supper in winter, with your commanders and ministers, and a good fire in the midst, whilst the storms of rain and snow prevail abroad; the sparrow, I say, flying in […]
On Being a Funeral Celebrant
Here I am, somehow standing in for this person we have all gathered to honour and farewell. I have listened to family and friends, asked questions to elicit the fullest picture, the roundest sense of the life at the centre of our ritual. And here I am, holding it all, the balance of dignity and […]
Westie goes west
I know a lot of you like a good gangster funeral. This one’s not premier cru, but it’s not bad. “My father was no saint,” Ryan McElroy, one of Mr. McElroy’s three children, said in a eulogy. “But people said he could light up a room. He’s been away 15, 20 years, and you still […]
What is a funeral for?
Three views here about what a funeral is for by Christian holy people in response to this article here. Something that allows space for people of all faiths and none to recognise that our lives are about more than the acquisition of wealth and bigger than the sometimes compartmentalised lives we live … until we […]
A true one-off
The best obituaries are to be found in the Victoria Times Colonist. Its archive of obits will prove a treasure trove for social historians of the future. Here’s an especially fine one — he sounds like a lovely guy. I like the scattergun approach. The task of collecting single words or phrases is something that celebrants […]
Making doubly sure
Back in April I reported the story of the undertaker who forged a client’s signature on a cremation form and then had the body cremated without their knowledge. The body was that of a 26 week-old boy, Sonny. His parents had wanted to dress him and put special items in his coffin. Read it here. Sonny’s parents, […]
Who’s the fastest of them all?
Ray Bidiss’s trike hearse world speed record got the newswires humming. When I heard it I paused and pondered. I think I said ooh. Maybe you did, too. Didn’t hear about it? Read about it here. Take nothing away from Ray, he blitzed down Elvington airfield at 114.1 mph with a coffin on board. But […]
Ain’t no grave can hold my body down
Here’s another song. Johnny Cash used to sing it. This is the Tom Jones version. I seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment. It won’t last. There’ll be time to catch up, I’m afraid. There ain’t no grave gonna hold my body down Ain’t no grave gonna hold my body […]
