Since time immemorial, humanity has been marking the funerals of people they love with affection and dignity and celebrating their lives, loves, legacies and their relationships.
A humanist funeral or memorial is exactly all of these things; carefully collected together by working closely with friends and family to create a unique and personal ceremony that truly expresses the love and the loss, and possibly everything in between these two, in a way that is appropriate and meaningful.
I think we may have all been to funerals that were less than representative of the deceased. I have attended family funerals that were profoundly unsatisfying experiences, simply due to the lack of personalisation and care with the details, not following family wishes and, in one case, even getting the name wrong! It is what motivated me to become a funeral celebrant - to get it right! Funerals should be authentic representations of the life lived, no matter how long or short that life was.
My ceremonies are far away from the 'insert name here' school of writing, as I invest whole-heartedly on taking the time to visit, to listen, to record and respect the lives and stories told to me and work hard to reflect it back to you in meaningful way. You will always be given the opportunity to read and edit the script before to ensure everything is in order - the whole process is a collaborative effort.
