I’ve had a lovely connection with a Flinger over the past few weeks and I thought it worth sharing as a prompt to doing useful things with pockets of free time. If you are depressed by Coronavirus lockdown, feeling shackled by Covid-19 limitations, thinking more about end of life than usual, Dot’s tale might help. […]
If you’ve been watching BBC’s Years and Years– a near-future view of our world – you may have seen the funeral in episode 3 where the chat goes (to paraphrase) ‘this isn’t a normal crematorium you know, it’s an aquatorium’. Fire or water? Turns out, given the option, 80% of people asked would choose water cremation […]
This week, my friend Rebecca shares a surprising, delighting moment at a recent family funeral – to come across an Order of Service recipe. “Pat Mills, died at the end of last year and in my family, that officially marks the End of an Era. Pat and Bunty were legends. They were distant cousins of ours – […]
Thanks to Flinger, Michelle, for sharing this inspiration for writing your own words for a funeral. This time last week, I had the privilege of leading a funeral for Michelle and family to celebrate the life of her dad, Alex. It was a sad day for the family, marking the loss of their generous, spirited, loving, much-loved dad, grandpa, great grandpa, brother, uncle.
I had a chat today with a Final Flinger about how to pay for funeral for a friend. He’s dying. She’s supporting. Both are worrying about how to pay for the funeral. And that’s the last thing they should be worrying about right now when they have just a little time left together.
If you’d like to write a tribute after a death but don’t feel able, here’s how to do it – inspired by a participant in our recent Absent Friends Supper. Writing a tribute is a lovely way of remembering someone who mattered. It lets us get to the essence them by recalling some of their […]
Scottish Government is carrying out a consultation on cremation in Scotland. The deadline for responses is Friday 9 June. Here are the consultation details… The Cremation (Scotland) Regulations 2017
This week we’re grateful to Jennifer Levenson for sharing At the End – her way of saying goodbye to a parent. She wrote this poem for her dad’s funeral in 2008 and has been glad to let others use and adapt them since then. She offers this poem to you, if it’s helpful.
Did you know, there’s a hierarchy relating to who calls the shots, organising a funeral – unless you’ve set out other preferences in an “arrangements on death declaration”?
This came to my attention when friend of Final Fling, Hilary Peppiette, shared a summary of the Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Act 2016 – the most recent legislation affecting burial and cremation in Scotland.
Jevon Truesdale, Founder at Qico in California has been in touch to let us know Fire to Water™ their new cremation system has taken a leap forward thanks to an award of $1.6 million in tax credits – a government Business & Economic Development support. The system generates ashes for scattering. It’s cleaner, safer and more energy efficient than cremation, and, Qico would argue, the ecologically beneficial way to go.
This week, Kate Clark from Pushing Up the Daisies, shares her experience and tips for care after death at home. Kate has experience of caring for family members at home after death and also brings her expertise as a nurse. She reminds us: “caring for someone at home after death isn’t anything new, rather it’s a […]
I had a call from someone new to Final Fling today who was looking for help to plan for the end. Let’s call her Laura. And I had a message from ‘Moya’, who was looking for exactly the same help. Both were prompted to plan by activities during Dying Matters Awareness Week. Hurrah! Moya had […]
Writing a eulogy can be a daunting task – so make it easier by starting your own living eulogy. This week, Carole Renshaw shares how a living eulogy – a work of autobiography -transformed a funeral and has made that the standout funeral to date in her experience.
At Bristol Museum’s Death Fair at the weekend I was asked “You know you can become a tree when you die… how do I do that?” Well, here is one route to eternal life. I invited my friends at Capsula Mundi to explain…
Can we compost dead bodies? If you want to get straight to the point with more unusual death questions, Caitlin Doughty’s yer woman!
In this short film, Caitlin – in her irreverent and always intelligent, informed and spirited way – Caitlin shares her knowledge and experience… in this blog about the question of whether or not it’s possible to compost dead bodies.
What’s Princess Diana got to do with the rise of celebrants in the UK? This week, friend of Final Fling, Ken West (pictured with wife Anne) – the UK’s authority on natural burial grounds – shares his knowledge, experience and personal views about the emergence of celebrants in the UK. Ken’s been involved in over […]
Robin Hyde-Chambers at family-owned funeral services company R Hyde-Chambers Funeral Directors blogs for us this week on gravestone words. “Epitaphs are the words inscribed on a gravestone as a lasting tribute to people who have died. The words on their tombstone usually reflect the characteristics that made them special. “They’re usually an emotive, eloquent tribute to […]
We tend not to put the same time into planning a funeral ceremony that we put into planning a wedding. Why is that? It’s no less important as a life milestone. In fact, some might consider it THE milestone after birth.
We lost a friend suddenly. A friend of a crowd of us. None of us really knew her family – as often happens.
A year on from her funeral, I wanted to post a wee tribute on Final Fling.
Why? I wondered.
I think it’s like the importance of the ‘say their names’ campaign run by The Compassionate Friends who encourage families who have lost a son or daughter to say the names and tell the stories of our loved and lost.
This week we’re delighted to have welcome Barry Ward as our guest blogger. By sharing the eulogy he gave for his wife Christine at her funeral, he hopes to help anyone else faced with writing a eulogy for their partner. Here’s his story…