Why Families Choose Me
- My warm, calm and compassionate approach
- Many years experience supporting bereaved families
- Your wishes are key to me. Faith-based or none, traditional or personal. I'm not a 'church minister'; I'm not a "humanist". I am your independent Celebrant able to lead the most fitting, personal service with any features or elements you want.
- My clear communication and reliable coordination with Funeral Directors
- Thoughtful, personal scripts and words that honour each person’s life
- My professional, proven, steady delivery & lead on the day of the ceremony
With a career background in youth work, safeguarding, and community service, I’ve spent my life standing alongside people during difficult times.
As a Celebrant, I bring that same compassion, steadiness, and care to families, friends and others navigating grief, when someone important to them has died.
What does a Celebrant do?
It's been my privilege working with Poppy's Funeral Directors, and to be included in these two Poppy's blogs. Both come from the heart, from two families I have been proud to support (via Poppy's) as their Celebrant.
https://www.poppysfunerals.co.uk/blog/a-fresh-and-colourful-funeral-for-andys-mum-hilary/
https://www.poppysfunerals.co.uk/blog/a-woodland-funeral-for-sallys-tree-champion-dad-david/
Working with the appointed Funeral Director as your independent Funeral Celebrant, I will meet with you at a convenient time & place, to explore first steps for the kind of service you want.
I will help you through this final part of the journey, make suggestions based on my experience, offer ideas. I capture your thoughts & wishes for the very unique, personal funeral service you want, above anything else.
I am based in south London/south of England & have also proudly led bespoke funeral & memorial services in Gloucestershire, Kent, Surrey, Somerset, Cheshire & Buckinghamshire.
My Values
Honesty, integrity & listening carefully to what is important to you, underpins everything I can do, as your Independent Funeral Celebrant.
Talking clearly with trust & openess
(no ambiguity or euphemisms),
I aim to create & lead the service that you & others would most want.
I am a member of the Fellowship of Independent Celebrants with full public liability, professional indemnity insurance cover and standards in place, as any professional Celebrant should have.
I work closely with trusted local professional Funeral Directors and
fully commit to the standards & expectations detailed in
The Funeral Celebrant Accord defines the attributes and skills required of an excellent funeral celebrant .
"The role of a Funeral Celebrant is to serve the bereaved by creating and leading a personal, accurate and respectful funeral ceremony. Their work should clearly reflect the life, values and beliefs of the person who has died, acknowledge and give time to their community of family and friends, and create an environment in which the grieving process can be held and supported."
"An excellent Funeral Celebrant:
- Is professional
- cares for their clients
- is calm and shows natural leadership
- writes personalised ceremonies
- cares about their self-development"
Tributes to Those We Love: A Gallery of Precious Moments
Professional membership and association
You are not alone, or on your own, in grief.
Government & NHS
Cruse Bereavement Support
Bereavement is a personal experience and can affect people in different ways.
When someone has died, where do you start? Who can you call?
What to do after someone dies: Bereavement help and support - GOV.UK
Cruse Bereavement Support
Cruse Bereavement Support
This charity helps people through the most painful times in life – with bereavement support, information and campaigning.
Sue Ryder charity
The Sue Ryder charity makes sure that everyone approaching the end of their life or living with grief can access the support they need.
They say "We can’t make life’s most difficult moments easy, but we can carry some of the load."
https://www.sueryder.org/grief-support/online-bereavement-support/
MIND - losing someone to suicide
MIND - losing someone to suicide
The incredible MIND charity has invaluable support, resources and sign-posting available for anyone.
Every type of grief can cause intense, complex feelings. But research shows that those of us bereaved by suicide may have especially complicated feelings. And we might experience extra struggles while trying to cope with the loss.
This might include feeling things like shame or guilt.
This is a common reaction. But remember that neither you, nor the person who died by suicide, are to blame for their loss.
SANDS
MIND - losing someone to suicide
The Good Grief Trust charity
SANDS is a brilliant charity dedicated to providing emotional support and information right from the early hours after a baby's death, through to the weeks, months and years ahead. Sands supports anyone affected by the death of a baby.
The Good Grief Trust charity
MIND - losing someone to suicide
The Good Grief Trust charity
The Good Grief Trust exists to help all those affected by grief in the UK. Their vision is to help those bereaved from day one, acknowledge their grief and provide reassurance, a virtual hand of friendship and ongoing support.
They bring bereavement services together, to ensure that everyone receives the tailored support they need to move forward with their lives.
- With approx 650,000 deaths in the UK every year, at some time in our lives ALL of us will be affected by grief and none of us know how we will react to the death of someone close until it happens.
- Run by the bereaved, for the bereaved, this charity aims to normalise grief and raise awareness of the impact of grief on a national platform.
- They aim to encourage talking about grief in a more honest, straightforward way, help to make the pain a little more bearable for those at the early stages and offer inspiration and hope to the bereaved further along their own grief ‘journey’.