As well as being a husband, a father, and a grandfather - he was a biker too! And a master machine driver!! Not all funerals have to be formal, and some require different outfits. This one definitely needed my old leather jacket and a lot of grit. Around 300 people…

I had the honour of conducting a service for a gentleman who had been a very big part of many people’s lives. He was the owner and head chef of a Thai restaurant. His family wanted a ceremony that would include his Buddhist belief system and be accessible to the…

Say it with Flowers is perhaps an overused phrase nowadays; in the funeral world flowers really do speak words. I read (in Creative Review) that the Say it with Flowers slogan was created in the US back in 1917 by the Florists’ Telegraph Delivery Association (FTD). “As the FTD went…

As we approach a new school year, I thought it was time to look back over the last. I started work as a Celebrant over a year ago and I’m relieved to note that I no longer have that first funeral feeling – like a new pupil turning up wearing…

I took two funerals in June, where the deceased’s final journey was by horse-drawn hearse. The horses were so calm, controlled, and seemingly ‘bomb-proof’ with their elegant ostrich plumes. The hearse itself was so finely polished and beautifully maintained. It is a stately way to arrive at one’s final destination.…