The Old Painswick Inn,
Gloucester Street,
Stroud,
Gloucestershire.
GL5 1QG
Tel : 01453 767769
Working with you for a better, more personal funeral
We will tell you exactly what to do, and help and guide you through each of the different stages.
The Old Painswick Inn,
Gloucester Street,
Stroud,
Gloucestershire.
GL5 1QG
Contact us here: Telephone 01453 767 769
As featured on:
Death, dying and funerals
We would be very pleased to talk to you and your group on any aspect of death, dying and funerals.
As well as organising funerals, we aim to be part of a wider movement that encourages
thinking and talking about death as a natural part of life. In coping with death,
we believe that talking about death reduces our fear of it, and allows us to both
live - and to die - better.
We are available to give talks to community organisations, Women’s Institute, U3A,
Rotary and Probus groups, and professional organisations, as well as doctors, nurses,
care workers, schools and other groups.
The talks are interactive and informative, yet tread lightly around areas of death
and dying that the participants might find difficult. Each is tailored to the needs
and nature of the particular group, and from our experience groups have always found
the occasion to be stimulating and enjoyable.
Topics include:
• Funerals… Celebrations of Life? The Changing Face of ‘The Dismal Trade’. An informative, and entertaining look at how funerals have changed, what influenced these developments and a chance to share and ask questions about death, dying, bereavement and funerals.
• Creating a personal funeral service and ceremony.
• Go as You Please - choices in funeral planning.
Workshops:
We help run a workshop called The D Word …...... Talking about Death and Dying.
The 'D' Word is an essential workshop for carers of the Dying, and is done in conjunction
with Sue Brayne – ex-nurse, academic, and author. Her website can be found at www.braynework.com.
For assistance with any of the above please call us on 01453 767769, or you can email
us by clicking this link
Ways of remembering: Local events and talks with artists whose work is relevant to
funerals.
For the first of this series, in May 2010 we hosted this talk with Yuli Somme, a wonderful textile artist and the creator of Bellecouche felted woollen shrouds, at Stratford Park, as part of the Stroud International Textile Festival.
It was clearly an antique and very special way to make a funeral memorable and beautiful – so that many in the packed audience ended up wanting one – or at least trying to make one! Below are links to her site:
www.stroudinternationaltextiles.org.uk
Stonemason
Next year we will be hosting a talk by gifted local stone carver and artist Sebastian
Brooke – who is the inspiration behind the MEMO project.
Sebastian knows the enduring
role and power of stone to remind us of what we love that has passed, and the aim
of The Memo Project is to carve an image of each of the almost 850 species of plants
and animals that have become extinct since the Dodo, and to continue so doing as
others disappear from our world. By this means, and by working with young people
and institutions, The Memo Project hopes to protect species against the continuing
threats to their viable existence.
You can find out more about this by visiting
the Memo Project site at: http://memoproject.org/
Bell ringing:
Also in 2011 we plan to host an evening featuring the history and stories of ringing and making bells as a way to announce and call a community together to grieve, to celebrate, and to remember.
Flowers as memorials:
We hope to find a knowledgeable speaker to illustrate this very ancient way to beautify and pay tribute during important ceremonial occasions, and to mark rites of passage
Memorial, keepsake and funeral jewellery:
In Victorian times, memorial and funerary jewellery, jet hatpins, and brooches with a lock of hair inside were fashionable and very beautiful. Is there any memorial jewellery today as tasteful? We'll see – it depends on finding someone who is knowledgeable and who really loves this particular aspect of remembering.
"Many thanks for your advice and considerate organisation of my father's funeral.
We were very pleased we gave him such a personal and memorable funeral." L.S. Kings
Stanley.
