The GFG Blog
2020Sep
Choosing a headstone – advice and inspiration
Fran Hall
Sep
14
No Comments
Stone carver Fergus Wessel and his wife Hannah from Stoneletters have just published a beautiful new book called Headstones – Advice and Inspiration. The book is being sold to raise money for Maggie’s Centre, Oxford, and, in our opinion, it should be on the bookshelves of every funeral director
2020Aug
Finally!!
Fran Hall
Aug
13
4 comments
The Competition and Markets Authority has today published their Provisional Decision Report in the latest stage of their Funerals Market Investigation. It’s a long read – 472 pages in fact, with appendices being published next week, but you can read the short summary version here. In essence, the CMA has
2020Jul
Coping with a pandemic – a funeral director’s perspective (iii)
Fran Hall
Jul
16
No Comments
The latest in our new series of posts collecting the thoughts and experiences of funeral directors who have worked through the Covid-19 pandemic is from Jo Williamson, founder of Albany Funerals in Kent (top right in the Zoom image below). “As the government continues to lift the Coronavirus lockdown restrictions
Coping with a pandemic – a funeral director’s perspective (ii)
Fran Hall
Jul
10
No Comments
In our new series of posts collecting the thoughts and experiences of funeral directors who have worked through the Covid-19 pandemic, today we hear from James Showers, of Family Tree Funerals in Stroud. The photo is described by James as ‘Funerals now outdoors. Still beautiful!‘ “Thank you for inviting us to
Coping with a pandemic – a funeral director’s perspective
Fran Hall
Jul
06
1 comment
The GFG Blog has been unnaturally quiet during the last months. The unfolding catastrophe of the UK’s experience of Covid-19 has rendered us almost completely silent. Whether it is 44,220 as today’s official figures show, or many, many more – over 65,000 as suggested by the Financial Times analysis –
2020Apr
Not good enough
Fran Hall
Apr
23
2 comments
An official government digital ‘Bereavement Leaflet’ document has just appeared, purporting to provide ‘Information for the Bereaved’ for people in England during the Covid-19 pandemic. It can be found here. It’s not a great document to be honest. It doesn’t give very much useful information, but what it does state
Finding a way through
Fran Hall
Apr
03
6 comments
Our opinion piece last Friday ignited a debate that has continued throughout the week. It was picked up by Sky News on Friday evening, then over the weekend, articles appeared in The Telegraph, Newsweek, The Express, The Church Times, and Sputnik News all referencing our blog post, and it was
2020Mar
Please, stop now
Fran Hall
Mar
27
28 comments
Someone needs to say it. With the heaviest of hearts, today we are going against everything that the Good Funeral Guide has become known for over the years, and calling for funerals to be stopped completely. Now. Today. Just stop. The decision to exempt funerals from the current ban on
Dark times
Fran Hall
Mar
26
3 comments
Guest post by Jo Williamson from Albany Funerals BBC Breakfast today (2:22:02) “I wanted to share this, mainly because it’s the first time I’ve heard or seen anything about funerals on TV since the beginning of the outbreak. Nothing so far addressing the sheer devastation we face having to explain
Time to think the unthinkable
Fran Hall
Mar
16
3 comments
These are unprecedented times. Across the world, the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps everything before it, heralded by fear and confusion at conflicting government advice, with daily updates of the tens of thousands of people who have become ill, and rising numbers of deaths. And while much concern is rightly directed towards
