This is an interesting overview of how the funeral business has developed since the Victorians and, from a business perspective, how trends continue to change. The article is from <em>The Conversation, </em>an<em>"</em>independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community.
Like most vicars I have taken quite a lot of funerals, some straightforward, others complex and challenging. I have also experienced bereavement in my own life and since I often process things through writing about them, I decided to write a short novel about a vicar struggling with his own experiences of bereavement.
My name is Alan Stanley. Six years ago before I took an early retirement from my dental practice, I had been asking the Lord, 'what next?'. I knew that there was always the probability that people, and especially people in the church, would say 'now that you are retired would you..?'
The past few years has seen the beginning of a major cultural shift in our attitudes to talking about death.
The Rt Revd Steven Croft, Bishop of Sheffield, has <a href="http://www.sheffield.anglican.org/blog/bishop-of-sheffield/grave-talk?utm_source=Daily+Media+Digest&utm_campaign=0e33d05a92-&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_296e14724b-0e33d05a92-248597717&ct=t()" target="_blank">posted this blog...
Discover what others are thinking and saying about death, dying and funerals, and find out how to submit your own thoughts.
The funeral of Philip Bradbourn has caused a stir in the press recently. The MEP died just before Christmas and had a cremation service in January. It was reported that there had been a mix up at the mortuary and in fact the body of Philip Bradburn had been taken and was contained in the coffin that should have had Philip Bradbourn.
Every week in the Diocese of Lichfield, our clergy and readers take an average over 160 funerals, yet when meeting with family members, people seldom consider how they will meet the funeral and associated costs. According to SunLife's report Cost of Dying 2014, death-related expenses now average
This is a moving and deeply honest piece, published in <em>Reform</em> magazine, written by David Goodbourn in the face of terminal cancer. 'Parting Thoughts' was published in 2013: David sadly died in November 2014. <a href="http://www.reform-magazine.co.uk/2013/10/parting-thoughts/" targe
From the middle of November, shops, media and advertising collude to convince us that Christmas is magical, full of joy and fulfilment. Cares are banished and laughing children reinforce the message that sadness and anxiety have no place in the festivities. But what if bereavement means that sorr
