Desert flowers
Why do people go to funerals? After all, the dead person won’t be there—not in spirit. I always think, when I survey a crowd at a funeral, that these people are being as unselfish as people can possibly be—and what a very rare thing that is. What’s the motivation? To be there for the dead […]
It’s only a rehearsal
Here’s an interesting practice. In South Korea, where rapid industrialisation has generated societal angst and personal dysfunction—things capitalism taught us here in the UK ages ago—a Mr Ko Min-su has devised a training course in which participants rehearse their own death. The purpose is to teach them to re-evaluate their priorities and value their lives. […]
No match for m’lud
M’learned friends have spoken. Davender Ghai’s appeal to the high court to overturn Newcastle City Council’s ban on open-air cremation has been turned down like a bedspread. The 1902 Cremation Act was used in evidence against him. Funny, that. I thought the Act applied only to cremations in a crematorium. Well, that was the thinking […]
Green shoots
Is the Natural Death Centre a national treasure? Undoubtedly. What is it? It’s a charity which advocates a hands-on approach to preparing for death and arranging a funeral. It publishes The Natural Death Handbook, which is full of practical advice and personal stories. The philosophy of the NDC grew out of that of the natural […]
The surprising satisfactions of a home funeral
For all that the funeral industry is aware of pressure to change, and has readied itself for that, and for all that newspapers like to run features about nice, funny coffins, nothing has essentially changed. Death occurs. A stranger – a funeral director – accompanied by another stranger, his or her assistant, come to take […]
Dates for your diary (2)
Date: 12-14 June (choose your day or come to all three). Venue: Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire. Event: National Funeral Exhibition. This trade show is a biennial shindig. Funeral directors fly in from all corners of the country to feast their eyes everything new in the world of funerals. Not that there is anything new, of course. […]
Dates for your diary (1)
Those lovely people at Transitus are holding their first-ever festival on Saturday 20 June. What’s the draw? Dorset for a start. Always a special place at this time of the year. And Sturminster Newton, the venue, is a special place. And Dr Peter Fenwick. Peter Fenwick! He’s a man worth crossing the country to hear. […]
The bigger they come the harder they fall
Here’s a problem for a species of mathematician: Exactly how big can a funeral directing enterprise get before it topples into incompetence and scandal? The same law of economics would, you think, apply to funeral directing as to, say, cars: expansion creates economies of scale and efficiencies of production which make your product both competitive […]
Something to celebrate
A while back I blogged about celebrants. The essence of my argument was that people do not get to choose their celebrant from the range available locally because funeral directors, who like to hold all service providers in their thrall, do not offer them a selection. Very soon they’ll have no choice. There’s now an […]
Cybertwaddle
There are very few funeral directors in the UK with a web presence. Many of those who do fail to understand that the job of a website is twofold: first, to offer a relationship of warmth and trust; second, to proclaim capability and professionalism. A good many undertakerly websites simply advertise ineptitude. Clumsy prose, wonky […]
