The following pages have been designed in order to assist you with dealing with the various matters at hand. However, our friendly team of staff are on hand 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and are able to provide you with additional information should you so wish.
Planning Ahead
In order to alleviate some of the pressures that may arise upon a death, certain elements of the funeral can be planned in advance. Making prospective funeral decisions can be utilised for taking out a pre-paid funeral plan, which not only records your funeral wishes but also financially lessens the burden upon death, or in the completion of a last wishes form, to which no finance is attributed.
Details of all pre-paid plans will be retained by either the chosen funeral director or the pre-payment plan firm. The last wishes forms can be retained in your records and with a next of kin or executor in order that your funeral wishes are expressly communicated.
Upon Death
We know that this is a very upsetting, difficult and daunting time if you are the person who is charged with organising the funeral for your loved one. We are here to help you every step of the way and we have created the following resources to help you upon the death of your loved one:
Funeral Decisions
The funeral industry has been ever evolving with the advent of wider consumer awareness and choice. Funeral Directors have had to widen the options made available to customers and this has resulted in a large amount of decisions that need to be made. We would recommend that one of our Funeral Directors lead you expertly through these decisions, but if you would like to consider them ahead of time, please find below a useful document:
In addition to the above, we have also outlined some of the key decisions that will need to be made, along with the different services we can offer you.
Once you have decided the larger overarching points (cremation or burial, where the funeral will be held, whether you wish for religion to play a part, whether you wish there to be attendees etc), the other finer points can be considered.
Choice of coffin and receptacle for the cremated remains
The choice of coffin is very personal and will encompass many different factors; aesthetic, environmental impact, price, among many others. The most common and traditional options range from a simple veneered coffin to a solid wood coffin or more sustainable options are also available, including willow, bamboo, seagrass or cardboard.
We are proud to work closely with another local independent family firm who manufacture willow coffins, even allowing the family to participate in the weaving of their loved one’s coffin. They have a very wide range of options available and more information can be found on their website
HERE.
Finally, following a cremation, there are many different ways in which you can memorialise your loved one’s cremated remains. The full range of options can be found on our main supplier’s website
HERE.
Choice of funeral vehicles
We are conscious of our impact upon the environment and therefore in this light, we operate the area’s first hybrid funeral fleet, meaning that on all funerals we are able to keep environmental impact to a minimum. Our range of funeral vehicles can be found in the link below:
Did your loved one ride motorcycles? Holiday in a VW Campervan? Work with, own or simply love horses? Or perhaps they would like something traditional? There are many ways in which your loved one can arrive at a funeral and in this way you can make their funeral truly unique and special.
Please speak to our funeral directors for a full range of options.
Design of service sheets
Service sheets are a wonderful way to not only allow the mourners to follow the service and have hymn words or poems printed, but also as a keepsake for the family and wider mourners. We always suggest that the family send on any spare copies of the service sheets to those who were unable to attend the funeral, as a lovely way to remember their loved one and feel a part of the day. We work with a local designer and printed who is able to bring your ideas to life and come up with a truly personal and social keepsake from the service. The brochure of some of the options is in the link below:
Readings & hymns
“If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.” ~ Charles Darwin
Music and poetry are so personal to us all, we each have our own tastes and eclectic mixes of both. Sometimes it is hard to know what to say at the time of a bereavement, but music and poetry can often express exactly what we are feeling, invoke a memory of our loved one or simply transport us away.
You will of course have your own ideas about what to play or say in the service, but we have complied a list of common hymns and readings that are often played at funerals.
There will no doubt be countless other questions and worries and our entire team will be happy to assist you with anything at this very difficult time.
Floral Tributes
A floral tribute can be a very personal expression of love, grief and celebration. Whether it be a display for the coffin, or a tribute laid with the coffin in the hearse and on the graveside, we are happy to help you organise something fitting for your loved one.
We work with all of the local florists and can either order the flowers with them directly or if you would prefer to speak to them, we can liaise with them about the logistics.
The below list is not exhaustive, but these are the florists we work with most closely:
Catering Venues and Caterers
Depending on the type of funeral, you may also wish to organise some refreshments following the service to further celebrate and remember your loved one in a more relaxed setting. To aid with this, we have compiled a list of the local venues and caterers that we have worked with. This list is by no means exhaustive, as there are a plethora of venues around which can accommodate private functions, large or small.
