The GFG Blog
2014Mar
Getting through floods for a Lowdham Funeral
Charles
Mar
03
1 comment
If it’s the start of a new month… it must be time for another adventure in the life of the 1950 Leyland Beaver flat-bed lorry hearse. During January and February, Britain was battered by a series of Atlantic Storms which swamped coastal towns and left huge inland areas covered with
2014Feb
The cairn at the end of the journey
Charles
Feb
28
6 comments
The cairns along a wilderness trail are built of rocks of various shapes and sizes. The memorial cairn at the end of a life is also a composite, but an experiential one. It is made up of the memories, the thoughts and the feelings of all who are gathered in
Time to make way
Charles
Feb
27
10 comments
A letter in last Thursday’s Times tells us something, perhaps, about the evolution of society’s thinking about dying, death, the competition for NHS resources, futile care and the declining value life holds for the ageing and the elderly both in the eyes of society and in their own eyes: Sir,
Killer anecdotes
Charles
Feb
26
3 comments
A great funeral eulogy showcases a killer anecdote. Here’s one to die for from the Times obituary for diplomat Andrew Stuart: Stuart won the Colonial Police Medal in 1961 when he overcame an escaped prisoner and self-styled prophet, Kigaanira, who was drawing a crowd by dancing with a spear on
How full-service and niche undertaker websites use words
Charles
Feb
26
6 comments
Posted by Richard Rawlinson While many undertakers’ websites offer useful information for those planning funerals, they’re understandably not impartial, being the marketing platforms of commercial companies. Compare and contrast, for example, these words from both mainstream undertakers and specialists in their given niche (simple funerals, woodland burials etc). A full-service, family-run
Holding the line
Charles
Feb
24
21 comments
There’s nothing new in a minister-naffs-off-mourners story, nor yet a Catholic-priest-bans-eulogy story. Some minsters are insensitive to the needs of their congregations, some insist on theological orthodoxy, some use a funeral as a conversion opportunity, some like to remind non-churchgoers that they will burn for all eternity in the fires
Stonehenge and sky burial
Charles
Feb
21
5 comments
Posted by Ken West The archaeology at Stonehenge is all about digging up funerary artefacts so is it possible to consider how those funerals occurred? Stonehenge is unique, the only certain stone circle in Britain aligned to the solstices. Forget the Druids, as they did not exist in the Neolithic period
We screwed up, confesses the Co-op
Charles
Feb
20
3 comments
To Nick Goodway in the London Evening Standard it looks more like a ‘massive public relations exercise than a genuine “want to know what you think”.’ He’s talking about the Co-op’s Have Your Say survey, now under way, which gives you the chance to tell ‘the Group’ what you think
Win a natural burial plot!
Charles
Feb
20
2 comments
Posted by Daniel Lane of Leedam Natural Heritage Free to enter and open to all We would like all you seasoned and budding photographers alike to grab your cameras and make your way to our natural burial ground near you. Get creative and send us your best. Whether that’s a floral close
What do you want at your funeral?
Charles
Feb
18
28 comments
Guest blogger RR writes today for ‘the silent majority of consumers’. With the plethora of funeral options, some people choose to give their own send-off advance thought and leave instructions to their next of kin. This brief survey aims to focus the mind on some of the boxes that might
