Personal

Just a very short blog to say Happy New Year to everyone. In particular my fellow celebrants and the funeral directors I work with. I am looking forward to starting this year – with a few new projects on the

Some sad news this week. I heard that my good friend and mentor, Eddie Small, had died. We first met in about 2009, not long after I moved back to Scotland. We did keep in touch but it was only

My good friend, Paul Connell, is a photographer based in Dublin. During lockdown he found that the nearest open place he could walk in and get a bit of fresh air – without having to dodge joggers and cyclists –

When I lived in London, one of my good friends was a man called Mike Crook. We’d got to know each other through work and, after we both turned freelance in about 2000, we started to meet regularly. One of

I just heard today that I’ve been accepted on the University of Glasgow’s MSc in End of Life Studies. This is a totally online part-time course so I’ll be able to continue my celebrancy work around it. It will be

Just taking a break from all the news at the moment. My friend Carole Nelson from Ireland has recorded a series of short YouTube videos called Live from the Living Room and the first piece in the series is called,

Bryan Bale, 8th January 1944 – St David’s Day 2020 On Sunday, St David’s Day, my good friend Bryan Bale died in Cardiff. I’ve known Bryan since the mid-90s when we both lived in Hackney. We first met after Bryan

On Sunday I went through to my writing group in Glasgow. I haven’t been for a long time so it was great to see everyone and we did a lot of catching up. Larry Butler, one of the group facilitators

This has been a pretty eventful year for me. In January I attended a writers’ retreat at Myres Castle. It was the perfect way to start the year. A chance to review things and think about my plans to become