The Good Funeral Guide – champion of the consumer around funerals – is to get a new lease of life. Fran Hall, one time chair of the Natural Death Centre, lead at Clandon Wood Natural Burial Ground for the last couple years, experienced funeral director and all-round-good-egg is going to working with the inimitable Charles Cowling, Founder of the Good Funeral Guide.

Charles said “We thought it was all over. We needed to find someone who combines a knowledge and understanding of the funerals business with the point of view of a funeral shopper – an insider-outsider. We needed to find someone the executive acumen to oversee a complex organisation – attributes glaringly deficient in the old regime. Fran is the only person in Britain with the full suite of qualities needed to take the Good Funeral Guide to the next level. I am completely confident that the GFG will now go from strength to strength.”

Charles has spent almost a decade shining a light into the darker recesses of the mysterious world of undertaking and he is responsible for much of the recent shift towards a more informed and empowered public and a more transparent and reflective profession. Together, Fran and Charles will be continuing the work of providing free guidance to bereaved people while at the same time keeping a close eye on the goings on in the funeral world in the interests of bereaved people.

Fran Hall said: “It is a huge privilege to be joining The Good Funeral Guide as CEO. I have been an ardent fan of the website and the blog since it began, and I only hope that I can do justice to the great work created by Charles.”

A new Good Funeral Guild is being launched this month, enabling supporters of the GFG to connect with each other and help build a community of like minded people across the country. Simultaneously, April sees the announcement of details of this year’s Good Funeral Awards, the annual celebration of excellence in the funeral industry where the unsung heroes who help make funerals bearable for bereaved people are honoured.