Hi, I'm Lizzie

Image of Lizzie Adkins

Whatever brings you to this page – a current loss or an impending departure; maybe curiosity about your own funeral – I’m here for you.

For as long as there have been humans, there have been ceremonies to honour the memory of departed loved ones and to say goodbye so life can move on. Non-religious ceremonies are even more special. They don’t have to happen at a crematorium or cemetery, or even with the deceased in attendance.

With no religious text, there’s more time to fill with details about the departed. A humanist ceremony is entirely focused on that person. From beginning to end, it overflows with who they were and what they liked. With so many aspects of them being shared and celebrated, you can feel them with you as you say goodbye.

You can include music, readings, singing, eulogies… slide shows, flash mobs, laying of flowers etc – but you don’t have to. It’s whatever you feel will properly reflect the person you are celebrating.

My job is to help you negotiate these often-bewildering choices and create the perfect send-off. Tell me everything about your loved one. Tell me your ideas. Tell me what they wanted. We can cry and laugh together. I’ll listen keenly, and then write you a script packed with as much of their personality as possible. You’ll get to see it beforehand, to be sure it is what you want.  

I can advise you on the ceremony structure and find out what is possible. I can source or order music for you, and arrange how and when to play it. I’m a strong singer myself, able to lead community singing. (It’s not just hymns, you know…) I work hard, often going beyond the call of duty, as if I am providing the service for my own family. On the day you can relax, safe in the knowledge that the ceremony is in the hands of a true professional, whose experience of funerals will ensure that things run as smoothly as possible, with as much sincerity, celebration and love as you require.

You may have expectations for what a funeral service “should” be like, but in truth there are no rules. If you want something a little different – literally thinking outside the box - but still heartfelt and meaningful, I’m your gal.

Ask your funeral director for me by name, referring them to this website if they need my details. Or contact me first, with no obligation – a friendly and sympathetic voice to help you make a start on this difficult task.  

If you are still unsure, see my clients’ testimonials.

And please, be kind to yourself.

Few people had been to a humanist funeral, but everyone commented at how lovely it was, the family thought you captured Paul’s personality really well, and loved the ceremony all together and left with a feeling, not of sadness, but of comfort.

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Thank you so much for the exemplary way you ran the celebration of Paul’s life. It was a stroke of genius to choose Always Look on the Bright Side of Life as the closing “hymn” of the ceremony.

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It was so lovely to meet you last week and thank you for doing such a fantastic job at mum’s funeral. You set the perfect tone and we’ve had a lot of feedback from those who attended about how well you led the event. You made, what was a difficult day, so much easier and I think my mum would’ve approved.

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I don’t know how to thank you enough for the truly memorable service you did for Pat on Friday. It was unique to her. No other funeral comes close to that one & I’ve been to a fair few. Dismal and gloomy it certainly wasn’t. Dignified and funny in equal measure. Pat would have loved it. I can hear her distinctive voice: ‘Well that was amazing darling, where did you find that lovely lady? And wasn’t her dress gorgeous, all those lovely colours. I hate black at funerals.’ You brought her to life for us again and we were so moved by your moment when you thanked her for being who she was. Just wonderful.

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I can’t thank you enough for the wonderful job you did for Sandra, and our family and friends on Tuesday.

Sandra particularly said how well you understood what was needed and how you had talked about Keith just as she had wanted. She also commented on your lovely speaking voice. We thought you organised everything so well, the ceremony itself went like clockwork. The music slotted in just as you had arranged, well done.

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Thank you again for your support and ideas. I am still getting emails and notes from people thanking me for inviting them to remember Gaye with us. They all speak so positively about your presentation and style.

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When my husband was nearing death, I knew that although he was a spiritual man there was no way he would ever have wanted anything religious about his funeral. A humanist seemed ideal – I’d been to a humanist ceremony before, and it very much fitted Dave’s beliefs. And so I found Lizzie.

“I could not have found anyone better. She totally understood exactly what I wanted – to have a celebration of Dave’s life rather than a gloomy service focusing on his death. Dave was 79 and had lived his life to the full, sadly succumbing over the past few years to Alzheimer’s so that his death was welcomed as he was no longer dealing with pain or distress. From a very active man, he had become bedbound and unable to communicate. So what I wanted was to focus so much on the 78 glorious years he had had before the final year robbed him of so much. We had been together as a couple for 49 of those years and hence I had a wealth of stories about what Dave had got up to, many of them very funny incidents. And when I told Lizzie Dave had chosen his arrival music several years ago when we talked about funerals, she was not taken aback at all by his choice of ‘Entry of the Gladiators’ – the circus theme!

“And so I felt in trusted hands as, in not more than a week, we put together a ceremony to celebrate Dave’s life. Especially impressive since Lizzie herself was recovering from one of the seasonal respiratory viruses at the time, so we had to do this over the phone and via zoom call rather than face to face. Lizzie timed and planned the photo slides I provided perfectly, presented the tribute for me with all the anecdotes with superb presenting skills and took everything that happened in her stride – even smoothly incorporating the phrase ‘the beat goes on’ into her presentation when one of our friends said this after reading a poem, whilst simultaneously playing a frame drum round the coffin in the chapel.

“Yes, it was serious. Any death is a serious fact, and this was certainly reflected, primarily when everyone present was invited to lay a bloom on the coffin and say their own goodbye to Dave. As was the way Lizzie explained humanist beliefs at the beginning – I know several there asked me afterwards about how I had found her as they liked the idea of a humanist service themselves when the time came.But primarily her skill was in how she managed to bring Dave to life to those who were there, by being joyous about his life and how he had lived his 79 years. It was exactly as

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Image of Lizzie Adkins

Lizzie Adkins

Where I work

Tetbury, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud, Cirencester, Dursley, Bristol, parts of Wales and the Forest of Dean; the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Wiltshire, and beyond. Very happy to travel, as long as expenses are covered.

Fees from...

£230 plus travel expenses for the ceremony.

How to contact me
Email

lizziethecelebrant@gmail.com

Phone

07929 624976

Website

humanist.org.uk/lizzieadkins

HUMANIST CEREMONIES™ is the network of more than 550 celebrants, trained by national charity Humanists UK to a gold standard to provide memorable and meaningful humanist ceremonies to non-religious people. Operating throughout England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, we deliver authentic, tailor-made and heartfelt ceremonies for life’s key moments. They are always inclusive and welcoming, regardless of the beliefs of those attending.

You can trust Humanist Ceremonies celebrants: We are DBS-checked, fully insured, and regularly peer reviewed for quality assurance. We are committed to a code of conduct, and have a transparent and robust complaints process in the rare case of a problem. We all pay a monthly fee to Humanists UK to further support the work of the charity, and are part of a regional network for like-minded celebrants for support and learning.

Humanist funerals

Humanist funerals, memorials and ash ceremonies are a fitting way to honour a unique life with warmth, sensitivity and meaning, but without reference to religion or an afterlife. They put the story of the person who has died at the heart of the ceremony, paying tribute to them and the legacy they leave, and provide an opportunity to bring people together, not just to share sadness but to celebrate a life lived.