I always like when families request a poem to be read at a funeral. A poem can sum up a person or an emotion in just a few words. Sometimes, as in Lonely Funerals, where the person we are honouring
Water cremation is now legal in Scotland
It’s now legal in Scotland to offer aquamation funerals as an alternative to more traditional cremation or burial. Aquamation is also called water cremation, resomation or, more technically, alkaline hydrolysis. The process involves immersing the body in a strong alkaline
The Coffin Roads
I wanted to say thanks to Pushing up the Daisies for organizing a fascinating, informative talk yesterday. The speaker was Ian Bradley, Emeritus Professor at the University of St Andrews. Ian’s theme was his book Coffin Roads – Journeys to
Echoes across the millennia
Some time ago I wrote about my family’s experience of commissioning a funerary urn for my father’s ashes. We had asked Ann Bates, a potter based in Derbyshire, to make the urn with input from us on shapes and colours
Coffin Club Caledonia
Talking about death is difficult. It’s the one thing we can all be sure will happen to us but we act much of the time as if we were immortal. In previous centuries death was quite literally much closer to
Pushing up the Daisies
I’m very interested in natural funerals, green or eco funerals, home funerals, and I’ve been a member of the Natural Death Centre for several months. They are a source of information on all aspects of natural and “DIY” funerals from
Paisley funeral – a day of journeys
Usually when I am asked to conduct a funeral, the family has already selected a funeral director. Sometimes, if they already know of me, they will ask the funeral director to contact me. More often the funeral director will suggest
The Natural Death Centre
I have just joined the Natural Death Centre – it’s a great source of information on all sorts of issues around natural burial grounds, green funerals and so on. I think it’s very important to recognize just how medicalized death