Blog posts in the 'Death' category


The Footie Fan’s Ultimate Dream? November 4, 2014

Filed under: Celebrant, Death, Funerals

  The ultimate resting place for a footie fan? Brazil football club is to open a cemetery for its dedicated fans – known as the Corinthians. Apparently there is already lots of interest and reservations are already coming in for the 70,000 plots that will be available.… I thought this enterprising move by a football […]


Funerals are Depressing, Right? Err, Wrong. September 29, 2014

Filed under: Cancer, Death, Funerals

‘Passionate about business’ may be an overstated term, and people outside the industry sometimes find it a bit of an odd profession, but I really do care so much about the funeral ceremony side of Cherish. During my initial training, I was convinced I only wanted to do Baby Namings, Weddings, Vow Renewals… all the […]


A Date in my Diary! June 17, 2014

Filed under: Celebrant, Death, Funerals

You get some strange dates in your calendar, being a Celebrant, and even more so when you are also a funeral celebrant! Later this year, I am going to the Ideal Death Show in Bournville.  It’s not in the least bit morbid, and I was glad to see this video clip from last year, as […]


No! I’m not a Planner! (or: How to be a Celebrant) June 13, 2014

Filed under: Celebrant, Death, General

  The question I get asked most often is “What’s a Celebrant?”.  The second question is about how I got into celebrancy work.  Then people either say, “Oh it must be really sad and upsetting”, followed by “I’d love to do that”, or “I don’t know how you could do that, I’d be terrified”. Happily, I […]


Dying Matters Awareness Week May 12, 2014

Filed under: Death, Dying Matters, Funerals

  This week is Dying Matters Awareness Week.  As a Celebrant, I help families to design the funeral ceremony for their loved one – but often, they have no idea where to start, as death has not been discussed.  This is often true even in cases where the person who has died had a terminal […]


Dying Matters Awareness Week May 10, 2014

Filed under: Death, Dying Matters, Eulogy, Funerals

This coming week, I will be officiating at 4 different funerals.  The last one of the week is for a gentleman in his 95th year – and so we could imagine it was a death ‘to be expected’.  But my first funeral this week is for a man in his prime.  A fit and healthy man whose […]


Testimonials and thank yous April 22, 2014

Filed under: Celebrant, Death, Funerals

In the sensitive world of the funeral industry, as a Celebrant,  it is very difficult to market what I do.  I am very aware not to appear as an ‘ambulance chaser’, or hang around A&E or the local care home, in the hope of new business.   Much of my work comes from personal referral, either […]


The Cherish Pledge for Funerals April 14, 2014

Filed under: Celebrant, Death, Funerals

I take my work as a funeral celebrant very seriously, and I wrote this to reassure Funeral Directors that I will work professionally, competently and respectfully at all times, as befits the profession.  The Cherish Pledge   As a trained and responsible Funeral Celebrant, I promise that:   I will make contact with the deceased’s […]


Death – a taboo word? April 14, 2014

Filed under: Death, Funerals

There are countless euphemisms to acknowledge that someone has died .  Pushing up the daisies, popped his clogs, six feet under, gone to meet his maker…..Anything to avoid using the actual, factual terminology.  The famous Blue Parrot sketch in Monty Python’s Flying Circus mocked the way we skirt around talking about death. Death, Dying, Dead.    […]


You Only Live Once? April 10, 2014

Filed under: Celebrant, Death, Dying Matters, Funerals

Wrong!  You only DIE once!!  #YODO as the Dying Matters Awareness folk call it – and this is the theme for their Awareness Week in May this year. Peaches Geldof has been on my mind a lot… I doubt somehow that she had made her final wishes known. We assume that making our arrangements is […]


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