Funerals
Funerals can be traditional, religious, non-religious, eco-friendly or simplified, each offering unique ways to honour a loved one’s life.
Traditional Funerals
Traditional funerals often involve a full service with family and friends present, including readings, music and tributes, followed by burial in a cemetery or churchyard or cremation at a crematorium. These services may include a wake, allowing mourners to pay respects following the burial or cremation.
Unattended Direct Cremation
Unattended direct cremation, also called direct cremation, involves the cremation of your loved one without any formal ceremony, service or gathering at a crematorium. The process is handled entirely by us, ensuring the deceased is collected, cared for and cremated with dignity. Families will then receive the ashes.
Attended Direct Cremation
Attended direct cremation allows a small number of family members to be present for a very simple cremation service, usually held early in the morning. No officiant will be present, although family can say a few words/readings/poems.
Unattended Direct Burial
Unattended direct burial, also called direct burial, involves the burial of your loved one without any formal ceremony, service or gathering. The process is handled entirely by us, ensuring the deceased is collected, cared for and buried with dignity.
Attended Direct Burial
Attended direct burial allows a small number of family members to be present for a very simple service. No officiant will be present, although family can say a few words/readings/poems.
Eco-Friendly and Alternative Funerals
Eco-conscious options include woodland or natural burials, where the body is interred in a biodegradable coffin or shroud in a natural setting. These funerals minimise environmental impact. Other alternative services may include colourful or highly personalised ceremonies reflecting the deceased personality and life.
Religious Ceremonies
We support families of every faith, cultural tradition and personal belief. Whether your loved one practised a particular religion or followed a spiritual path, we will help create a funeral that respectfully reflects who they were.
We will do our utmost to include any rites, rituals or customs that matter to your family. This may include ceremonial washing, prayers or chants, specific clothing, or symbolic objects. We can also liaise with faith leaders or community representatives when needed.
Non-religious Ceremonies
Non-religious funerals offer a personalised, meaningful way to celebrate a loved one’s life and are carried out by Civil Celebrants. A Civil Celebrant can conduct a funeral with either no religious content or enough religious content to suit a families wishes.
A civil funeral will focus on celebrating the life and legacy of your loved one without including prayers, hymns or religious readings (however, if you would like to include some religion, all the celebrants that we use are happy to do this). A civil funeral will feature music, readings and personal tributes and are fully tailored to the individual’s life and values.
We also use humanists for those who would prefer a service with no religious content at all.
Every funeral is personal, so we listen carefully to understand and honour what matters most to you. We handle every arrangement with compassion, cultural sensitivity, and the utmost respect.
Through experience, we know that losing a loved one is one of the worst times in a person’s life. We also know how vulnerable people can be at this time, with some people being in an ‘automatic’ state between losing their loved one and the funeral, barely able to think about anything else – it is for this reason that it is so important to feel comfortable with your choice of funeral director and make sure they have a good reputation.
One of the most effective ways of finding out this information is ‘word of mouth’, speak to your friends and neighbours and find out who they have used in the past and what sort of service was provided.
The internet is a very powerful tool, ‘Google’ the funeral director – searching through will show reviews, feedback and if there is any negative information you should be aware of.
Make sure that the funeral director you are thinking of using belongs to a Trade Organisation – we belong to two, the National Association of Funeral Directors and the Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors. Their main role is to ensure that funeral directors are providing a service which meets their high ‘standards’ with regular inspections being taken out. We are pleased to inform we have always passed the inspections with flying colours.
No funeral director should mind you checking their background, as we all know, you are trusting us to look after the most important person in your life.