My role as a Life Celebrant is to help close family and friends find the most fitting commemoration of a loved one. That can be for a funeral, or a memorial or living memorial.
This is not easy. I can help with some things.
Start with a chat about the practical options. Then we might work out whether I am the right celebrant for you (see what others say, below).
If I am, we can talk through your stories and some details of your loved one's life. Face-to-face conversations are sometimes best, but talking on the phone or over Zoom is good, if that suits. If several people want to add their voices, that works too. I will gather snippets together, write a personalised ceremony and share with you throughout.
Every ceremony will reflect the uniqueness of a person and their life. It will be truthful and meaningful to family and friends, with tributes and individual stories, favourite readings and music. I can advise on your choices to find the right balance between meaning, solace and celebration.
People say some very nice things about the ceremonies I help create.
Funerals are a time for mourning and for reassurance in remembrance. There will be sadness, but also the possibility of healing and renewal. Every person we know sends ripples into our lives -- and those ripples carry on after death in the minds of family and friends, in memories and behaviours and rhythms.
Humour is appropriate, too; laughter and anecdotes stir memory and bring deep joy. I like to imagine the universe as a natural place where emotions are real and part of the experience of being a one-off human. I like explanations but know that not everything has one. This life is the only life we have but I still spend large chunks of mine foolishly encouraging a football team that ignores me and my advice.
Hastings is my home, though I was born in Essex, and grew up in Dorset. I love this rugged town pulsating with the colour and energy of vibrant humans stomping up hills in the sun and wind and rain.
I know more than Sam Cooke does about biology, but what a slide rule is for escapes my mind.
