Advice, guides & articles

My day starts at 4am when the phone rings. I wake automatically, look at the phone 'Unknown Number'. I go into work mode, lamp goes on, my pen and pad ready to go. Not knowing who is on the other end of the line, I take a deep breathe, calm my voice, and answer: “Funeral Services, my name is Inez, how can I be of assistance to you?” Fifteen minutes later I am getting ready to go on a call out. I send a message to my colleague to say I need their assistance and we meet at the Funeral Directors to collect the vehicle. Two hours later I am home, deciding not to go back to bed before work, I pour myself a large coffee and make some toast. Whilst I sit there, I contemplate... How fragile life is. Here I am drinking my first coffee of the day, about to get sorted to head into work, and the family I have just left are having the worst day of theirs. I came into their lives only an hour or so ago and yet they trust me to care for not only their loved one but them too. I’ve been trusted to care for someone so loved and valued. Many people have never had to organise/plan a funeral before, so they look to the funeral director to help them when they feel so low and vulnerable. I reassure them, I talk to them about the next steps. I become their guidance; I am now a part of their journey.

I remember going to a funeral for one of my grandparents when I was a child. I was sitting in a pew at the church with my brother and sister, and I remember trying desperately to hold my laughter in. I don’t remember what I was laughing at; probably something one of my siblings had done. I just remember feeling like I couldn’t let anyone know I was laughing because I was at a funeral and it was wrong to laugh at funerals. Fast forward 20 years to 2021, when I went to the funeral of one of my friends who had sadly passed away. They played a light-hearted video montage of him, his loved ones read humorous eulogies and I found myself laughing through my tears. I’d been dreading the funeral, but it really was more of a celebration of his life, and when I look back on it I remember these moments more than the overall sadness of the day. This leads on to our blog topic today; do funerals have to be sad occasions? The traditional funeral is generally thought of to be a serious occasion. Black is commonly worn in mourning for the person who has passed away, and people feel that smiling, laughing, or appearing happy in any way can seem disrespectful to both the deceased and their grieving family. However, a lot of modern funerals are focusing more on celebrating the life of the deceased, rather than mourning their loss. Family and friends are encouraged to share happy memories of their loved one and reflect on the way they lived, rather than dwelling on the fact that they’re gone.

Yoga, with its combination of movement, breathing, meditation and mindfulness, has long been thought to help improve mental health when practised regularly.

We have reached new heights this week with the publication of our five millionth notice. In recent years funeral-notices.co.uk has grown to become the go-to place for people to pay tribute to their loved ones by adding virtual candles, photographs, videos and messages of condolence. Tribute pages also come with the option to include an online charitable collection.

Forrest & Family is the newest independent Funeral Directors in the Stoke-on-Trent area. Established on High Lane in Burslem earlier this year by Lucy Forrest and her husband Lee, it was always going to be something different to the traditional concept of a Funeral Directors in every way.

To mark the start of LGBT+ History Month, I thought I would take a look at LGBTQ+ representation in one of my favourite mediums, comic books! I’ve read a lot of comic books and graphic novels over the years, but lately I have come to appreciate those that make the effort to include a more diverse cast of characters, and so I thought I would share a few of my favourite comics and graphic novels that feature LGBTQ+ representation in one form or another. There are thousands of books out there that could fit onto this list, but I only wanted to share books that I myself have read and enjoyed, and therefore could honestly recommend. They are in no particular order, and hopefully there is something here for everyone!

I don’t know if this is something that everyone thinks about, but at my own funeral I know for certain that I don’t want everyone listening to Robbie Williams belting out ‘Angels’ for the billionth time, or some classical music piece that I had absolutely no affinity for. No, I want songs to play that would have meant something to me, or songs that remind others of me and the kind of music I enjoy. That’s why I thought I would put together this list of alternative rock songs that could be played at a funeral; to provide rock fans with some inspiration if you have been thinking about it for yourself, or maybe if you have the heartbreaking task of arranging someone else's funeral who you know would appreciate some of their own personality being stamped onto the occasion.

I found this article hard to write. Most of my knowledge of the Holocaust comes from the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman (which I highly recommend if you are at all interested), so my attempts to tell you about Holocaust Memorial Day would have been little more than a copy and paste of information you can find on these great websites: - Holocaust Memorial Day Trust - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum What I can bring you that is unique to funeral-notices.co.uk is a few of the people who really were actually a part of the story. After doing a little research I found some tribute pages for Holocaust Survivors; people who escaped those horrors and went on to live a full life here in the UK.

There are many different types of people in the world, with different backgrounds, beliefs, and abilities. Nobody should be treated differently because of any of these things, and that’s what inclusion is all about; making sure everyone, no matter who they are, feels included.

Chinese New Year 2023 falls on a Sunday this year, 22nd January. It is an occasion observed across the globe, typically by people of Chinese heritage.