Black or coloured?
Posted by Richard Rawlinson With the trend for approaching funerals as celebrations of life, I gather it’s become more fashionable to wear bright colours that challenge the convention of wearing black for mourning. Is this the experience of undertakers and celebrants here? If so, are people dressing down in line with the general trend for more […]
Why scientists dismiss NDEs as psychedelic trips
Posted by Richard Rawlinson Scientists have observed that when Near Death Experiences (NDEs) are occurring the pineal gland releases DMT, a powerful hallucinogen. DMT is produced at night and small amounts are secreted as you dream. When you die, a large amount is secreted. Many say this is the cause for these NDEs, mere hallucinations and […]
A Good Funeral Award gets you noticed
http://www.thisisthewestcountry.co.uk/news/somerset_news/10671298.Minehead_woman_wins_Embalmer_of_the_year_award/ http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/10674263.Eco_friendly_hearse__star_of_show__at_funeral_awards/
Funerals must address dreams, too
In an excellent article in the Christian Century, the Rev Samuel Wells, an American, describes taking a British funeral. There are lessons here for clergy, funeral celebrants and undertakers. And so it was that I was called to preside at the funeral of Michael. Michael had had a difficult life. He had Duchenne muscular dystrophy. […]
David Abel answers his critics
If funeral celebrants suffer from anxiety, that is not surprising. In addition to job anxiety, because they exist at the beck and call of undertakers, and financial anxiety because they must resign themselves to the vagaries of the mortality rate, there comes with the job, also, a degree of social anxiety — just try […]
A Good Funeral Award gets you noticed
AW Lymn – The Family Funeral Service is acclaimed in the Nottingham Post for its success in the Good Funeral Awards Story here.
Thought for the day
“I wonder if, working with funerals and the bereaved, one can also be too attached to the idea of death, taking refuge in it.” Clarissa Tan
The ideal death show
Article in today’s Spectator by Clarissa Tan. (There is no paywall around this article, so I hope the Speccie won’t mind us reproducing it all.) I am in a yurt, talking about death. Everyone is seated in a circle, and I am the next-to-last person to share. The last of the summer sun is shining through the […]
Pebbles in the press
Davina Kemble’s pebble coffin has been featured in the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald. She’ll be on BBC Wiltshire next Thursday afternoon. If you click on the cutting it will leap up to a larger, more readable size.
The crying need for more funeral venues
Guest post by Wendy Coulton of Dragonfly Funerals It struck me today when queuing at a takeout coffee kiosk how many choices I am prompted to make when I place my order – what type of coffee, how many shots, what size cup, any extras (chocolate sprinkles or cinnamon on top) and whether I have a loyalty […]
