Absolutely. In fact, working closely with your funeral director is an important part of my role.A funeral brings together a number of people, and good communication between us helps everything flow as it should.I'll liaise with your funeral director throughout the planning process, sharing the information they need for your order of service, working with them on timings, music, readings, family participation and the practical details surrounding the ceremony.On the day, we continue to work together, each bringing our experience and responsibilities to ensure the farewell of the person your love is conducted with dignity, warmth and respect.It's a partnership, with your loved one and their family at the heart of it.

Please don't feel like you need to prepare. You bring the memories. I'll help you find the words.Our meeting is a conversation, and I'll gently guide you through it. Mostly, I want you to tell me about the person you knew and loved.We'll talk about their life, and you can share as much or as little as you feel comfortable, about the person between the dates. What made them laugh? What were they proud of? What did they love? What did they always say? What will you miss? And what are the little stories that might never appear in a biography, but would make everyone who knew them smile and think, “That's so them.”We'll also talk about the funeral itself: anything you already know you'd like to include, music, readings, faith or traditions, people who may want to take part and, importantly, how you'd like the service to feel.And if you don't know yet, that's absolutely fine too. Part of my role is helping you discover that. There may be laughter amongst the tears. There may be pauses. We may wander completely off topic and discover one of the best stories. That's all ok.By the end of our conversation, I'll have what I need to begin shaping the service. I will provide you a copy for review and confirmation of the details, and if something comes to mind in between that you would like to include, drop me a line and we can shape it together. I'm here to help x

I may not have known them, but you did. And that's where we begin.One of the greatest privileges of being a funeral celebrant is being invited, for a little while, into the story of someone I never had the opportunity to meet, and see them through your eyes. I won't pretend to know them. Instead, I'll listen carefully as you share your memories with me. I'll want to hear about much more than dates, schools, jobs and achievements. Those things help tell the story of a life, but they don't always tell me about the person who lived it.Tell me about their laugh. Their terrible jokes. The meal everyone knew they'd order. The music turned up far too loudly. Their stubborn streak. Their generosity. The nickname nobody remembers the origin of. The chair that was unquestionably theirs and those wonderfully ordinary details that made them recognisably themselves.Not every life was perfect either, and we don't have to pretend that it was. We can tell someone's story with warmth, honesty and dignity, without turning their funeral into either a list of achievements or a version of them that nobody in the room recognises.From everything you share with me, I'll begin to find the threads that run through their life and carefully shape those memories into a service that feels true to the person you're saying goodbye to.When the people gathered hear their story, I'd like them to quietly think:“Yes. That was them.”

Absolutely.As a Celebrant Chaplain, I'm very happy to weave faith naturally into a farewell and reflect the person you loved.That might include favourite hymns, scripture, prayers or blessings, the Lord's Prayer, or other elements of faith that were important to them. These can sit beautifully alongside music, poetry, stories, memories and laughter.We'll talk about what mattered to them and how their faith may have formed part of their life, then reflect that within their farewell in a way that feels natural and true to who they were.Their life. Their faith. Their farewell.