The soft bigotry of low expectations
Posted by May Andrews “If we can just get through this, then we can get on with our lives.” I’ve heard it so many times, in so many different ways, but it all boils down to this: many families perceive a funeral to be something they must endure, an unpleasant trial, which they must […]
Don’t miss this!
Brighton looks like the place to be for anyone with half an interest in funeralworld this May – GFG favourite Liz Rothschild is performing her one-woman show Outside The Box at the Brighton Fringe Festival from May 14th – 17th. Billed as ‘A live show about death’, Outside The Box is a spoken word performance of […]
If we can sparkle he may land tonight
What is the role of ritual in a secular funeral service? What does a contemporary ritual look like? These and related questions have been debated many times on this blog. So we were intrigued to learn of a brand new ritual created by the Church of England to celebrate Godparents’ Day. Quoting from today’s Times: […]
Brighton calling
Guest post from Cara Mair and Tora Colwill Hello there! As long time fans of all things Good Funeral Guide we are excited to be featured here in the blog! We are Brighton funeral directors Cara from Arka and Tora from The Modern Funeral, collaborating as The Brighton Death Festival to bring death interest events and to contribute […]
A not so quiet revolution
Guest post by Lucy Coulbert, owner of Coulbert Family Funerals and The Individual Funeral Company. Lucy’s been invited back to Westminster next week. And she’d like your thoughts about what she’s planning to say. In the aftermath of the Support for the bereaved enquiry, I was not only contacted by a lot of media agencies, […]
Why do funeral workers creep people out?
Everyone in the death business knows what normal people think of them. They are reminded of it every time they’re asked what they do for a living. I often lie. Perhaps you do, too, sometimes. A freshly published academic study titled On The Nature Of Creepiness offers us, perhaps, some insights into this unflattering characteristic commonly ascribed to deathworkers […]
NDC birthday party
Nicholas Albery, founder of the Natural Death Centre By Josefine Speyer The Natural Death Centre was 25 years old on 14 April 2016! Celebrating this event with two Natural Death Salons to benefit the NDC. There are still places at the next Natural Death Salon on Sunday 8 May. We will be showing the documentary […]
Save the date!
The poshest knees-up for the UK funeral industry is moving to central London. The Good Funeral Awards 2016 promises to be the biggest yet. We’ll be at the grand Porchester Hall in Bayswater for the lunch and ceremony on Thursday 8 September. Booking a room overnight won’t be necessary. The idea is that most people […]
Why am I still here?
When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me. First there was the cancer diary. Nigella Lawson’s husband John Diamond wrote one, you remember. Since the advent of the self-published blog countless people have died out loud. Next, boomers started writing about the slow and distressing decline of their parents. […]
But on a happier note…
DEATH, says Nicholas Albery between mouthfuls of Neapolitan ice cream, really ought to be a better experience all around. ‘For everyone involved, I mean. Not only for the dying person, but for the relatives too.’ Twenty five years ago today, on 14th April 1991, journalist Joanna Moorhead opened her article in The Observer with these words […]
