A four-year-old child, whose next door neighbour was an elderly gentleman, who had recently lost his wife.
Featured in the Autumn 2013 edition of Farewell Magazine.
I wrote this article about the experience of family friends to share how comforting, beautiful and heart-warming a funeral ceremony can be. Then later I conducted my friend’s Memorial Service.
‘I just want the love to continue,’ Mary replied when asked if she had any special requests for her funeral.
Mary was affectionately known to her twelve grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren as ‘Moomin.’ The day before Mary’s funeral, her grandchildren gathered and using photographs from family albums for inspiration they began to decorate her cardboard coffin. Read more
Next May we will be having a ‘Dead Good Day Out’
A day of thinking about Death – confronting a few taboos, some myth busting, how to lighten the environmental impact of funerals, and providing an informative and open atmosphere for questions and debate.
Our date will be Saturday May 10th 2014….a date for your diary
This will be at the start of The National Dying Matters Awareness Week, 12-19th May 2014
http://dyingmatters.org/ for more on that
It will be a multi-faceted event, covering many aspects of Death and Dying.
A welcoming day for all of the community, including families, health professionals, a diversity of faiths – an engaging, colourful, reflective and creative day with music, poetry, paintings, funeral planning, food, lectures, discussion groups, talks, coffin painting, will making, sugar skulls decorating , film screenings and more!
…all in all, a ‘Dead Good Day out’.
We had a very successful ‘Days of the Dead’ last November at Minstead, which we now hope to build upon A link to this event last year is at https://www.facebook.com/events/422902761057412/
We are ..Deb Wilkes, a Clinical Nurse Specialist at Oakhaven Hospice in Lymington and Chris Townsend ,working with schools and communities in Sustainability Education in the New Forest and we both live in Southampton.
Death Cafe with Josefine in Lewes on Monday November 18th
http://deathcafe.com/deathcafe/215/
Harry Edsel Smith of New York – 1903 – 1942. ‘Looked up an elevator shaft to see if the car was coming down. It was!’
In a Thurmont, Maryland cemetery: ‘Here lies an Atheist, all dressed up and no place to go.’
On the grave of Ezekial Aikle in a cemetery in Nova Scotia: ‘Here lies Ezekial Aikle age 102. Only the good die young.’
In a London cemetery: ‘Here lies Ann Mann, who lived an old maid but died an old Mann.’
In an English cemetery: Anna Wallace: ‘The children of Israel wanted bread and the Lord sent them manna. Clark Wallace wanted a wife and the devil sent him Anna.’
In a New Mexican cemetery: ‘Here lies Johnny Yeast. Pardon me for not rising.’
A cemetery in Pennsylvania: ‘Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake. Stepped on the gas instead of the brake.’
In a Nevada cemetery: ‘Here lays the Kid. We planted him raw. He was quick on the trigger. But slow on the draw.’
My epitaph is: ‘Be Back Soon.’ What will yours be?
A new business had started up and a friend of the budding entrepreneur decided to send a bunch of flowers to mark the occasion. A large bunch of cream and white flowers arrived. The owner opened the card, which read: ‘Rest in Peace.’ Read more
Little Tim was in the garden filling in a hole when his neighbour peered over the fence.
Interested in what the cheeky faced youngster was doing, he politely asked: “What are you up to there Tim?” Read more
A man and his friend are playing golf at their local golf course. One of the guys is about to chip onto the green when he sees a long funeral procession on the road next to the course. He stops in mid-swing, takes off his golf cap, closes his eyes, and bows down in prayer. Read more
A Death Café is where people come together in a relaxed and safe setting to discuss death, drink tea and eat cake. It’s a chance to share your fears, feelings and experience of mortality in lively conversation with others.
A yurt was the venue used at the Bournemouth Good Funeral Awards for the Death Café but a yurt is also an ideal place to hold ceremonies and intimate functions. For information regarding hire Read more
Jean’s work on pre-need funeral planning has won her the ‘Most Significant Contribution to the Understanding of Death’ award at the Good Funerals Awards ceremony in Bournemouth and was presented by Pat Butcher of EastEnders.
