#Bovo2014 — 5-7 September
The Good Funeral Awards have moved. Up, of course, several notches, as the prestige of this event grows. And upcountry, too, to Bournville. Bournville is a suburb of Birmingham. It’s where they make the chocs. It’s in the middle of England, easily accessible by road, rail or canal to funeralists of a northerly or anywherelsely […]
Dignity marches on
The Times has reported Dignity plc’s results here(£). Briefly: Pre-tax profits are up 15 per cent to £52.9 million. Prepaid funerals contributed £6.7 million of this. The bonus pool is £2.5 million and all fulltime staff have been given ‘a payout equivalent to’ £1000. Final shareholder dividend of 11.83p a share, an increase of 10 per […]
Better together
Sexual intercourse began, Philip Larkin reckoned, in 1963. So, roughly, did the secular funeral. It was about this time that the BHA began to develop its celebrant network. Uptake wasn’t dramatic at first; most unchurched people carried on having bleak and meaningless duty-minister funerals all the same. By the turn of the century, though, it was […]
Window displays that move
Posted by Richard Rawlinson at his eye-watering best The multiple windows of Harrods, and the eye-watering budget for the displays in these windows, are a far cry from your average undertaker’s window onto the high street. However, moving installation is perhaps one trend any retailer can take from London’s leading stores. Last Christmas, Harrods windows became […]
No mandate to deny bereaved choice
Guest post by Wendy Coulton of www.dragonflyfunerals.co.uk I was grateful for the opportunity to present evidence to the Plymouth City Council ‘scrutiny review’ of its policy and services regarding Public (funded) Funerals in my professional role as a Civil Funeral Celebrant. In the light of significant budget pressures it is to be expected that council services […]
Getting through floods for a Lowdham Funeral
If it’s the start of a new month… it must be time for another adventure in the life of the 1950 Leyland Beaver flat-bed lorry hearse. During January and February, Britain was battered by a series of Atlantic Storms which swamped coastal towns and left huge inland areas covered with deep water. From the media […]
The cairn at the end of the journey
The cairns along a wilderness trail are built of rocks of various shapes and sizes. The memorial cairn at the end of a life is also a composite, but an experiential one. It is made up of the memories, the thoughts and the feelings of all who are gathered in the one place together. It […]
Time to make way
A letter in last Thursday’s Times tells us something, perhaps, about the evolution of society’s thinking about dying, death, the competition for NHS resources, futile care and the declining value life holds for the ageing and the elderly both in the eyes of society and in their own eyes: Sir, It makes sense to limit […]
Killer anecdotes
A great funeral eulogy showcases a killer anecdote. Here’s one to die for from the Times obituary for diplomat Andrew Stuart: Stuart won the Colonial Police Medal in 1961 when he overcame an escaped prisoner and self-styled prophet, Kigaanira, who was drawing a crowd by dancing with a spear on top of a 100ft rock. […]
How full-service and niche undertaker websites use words
Posted by Richard Rawlinson While many undertakers’ websites offer useful information for those planning funerals, they’re understandably not impartial, being the marketing platforms of commercial companies. Compare and contrast, for example, these words from both mainstream undertakers and specialists in their given niche (simple funerals, woodland burials etc). A full-service, family-run chain says this of direct […]
