Hi, I'm Nigel
Nigel Ridpath - an accredited humanist funeral celebrant, based in Oxfordshire.
Family.
It's everything.
And when we lose someone, a hole in our lives is created. We’re at the start of the journey of recognising and ultimately accepting that hole. But as we all know, it never disappears. However the journey needs a good start and that’s why throughout the history of humankind, we have marked the loss we feel when someone close to us dies.
As a celebrant, I take the responsibility for helping families with that process very seriously.
As I approached my mid-fifties, I felt there was something missing in my day job running IT businesses. I trained as a celebrant as I felt that I had a set of skills left untapped. As a manager and mentor, I had empathy. As a trainer and public speaker, I had the ability to engage an audience. But creating non-religious funeral services and supporting families on their journey has put those base skills to a use that I could never have imagined.
So how do families describe my services? My funeral ceremonies tend to elicit one recurring sentiment - 'warmth'.
I believe it's vital to reflect the life and personality of the deceased, whilst tailoring the ceremony for the mourners. There are times to remember something funny. There are also times to reflect on the loss that people will feel.
Another attribute of my services is that I am meticulous about accuracy. This has arisen out of my own experience of family funerals where the person leading the ceremony gets some key facts wrong.
When we meet, I will go through the background to your loved one with sensitivity and thoroughness, to make sure that the service we create together is remembered with fondness by all who attend.
As well as delivering humanist funeral ceremonies, I’m an accredited wedding and naming celebrant too.
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My partner and I live in a small Cotswold village and we love to travel. A few years back, we took a couple of months off for a round-the-world trip, visiting nine countries in 57 days. Closer to home, I'm a huge lover of Italy, which I try to visit once each year. When I'm not travelling, I'll be spending time with friends or my two grown-up daughters, watching rugby or getting creative in the kitchen.
I undertake humanist funeral services in Oxfordshire and surrounding counties. If you’d like to check my availability for your funeral, celebration of life or memorial service, please email or phone me.
Nigel Ridpath
Where I work
I am based near Chipping Norton in the Cotswolds and work across Oxfordshire, South Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, East Worcestershire and North Wiltshire.
Fees from...
£275
How to contact me
Phone
Website
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.
