A funeral ceremony should be unique and completely personal for the one you knew and loved. There are no rules about how you do this, and we will work together to make this a truly wonderful occasion - a celebration of life.
I have a very inclusive and open approach to individual spirituality and will be led by you to create a ceremony which reflects the beliefs or philosophy of your loved one. You may wish to include a ritual or words which will make this ceremony deeply meaningful and memorable; together we can work out how this can be done.
I will meet you, at your home or venue of your choice, and we will talk about your loved one, your family and your lives together: the passions, idiosyncrasies, beliefs and what made them who they were. Putting together the framework of the ceremony, working through ideas with you and choosing music, readings and personal touches may take a couple of hours. I take that information away and use it to write the words for the ceremony. I will send the script to you for your approval and make any adjustments that you feel are necessary.
You can rest assured that however simple or lavish the ceremony, I will be there to help you every step of the way.
Location: Brighton Unitarian Church, New Road, Brighton BN1 1UF
A day of activities, including talks, films, meditation, discussion, death cafe, coffin club, funeral planning and more…
We wanted Frances to be the celebrant at our beautiful mum's funeral, it was a shocking and extremely challenging time for us. She listened and guided us through the process with compassion, kindness, empathy and love. She was always on hand when we had questions and was wonderfully directive, which was incredibly helpful when our heads were all over the place. She organised and guided us through the service process, sorting times out to suit us, which was tricky as one of us is living in New Zealand. I would have no hesitation in recommending Frances as a celebrant for any occasion. N.T.
Frances helped my brother and I prepare for our father’s funeral. We were in different places so met by Zoom which was great, and immediately felt at ease with Frances who laid out the whole process easily in a way that we could understand. She was friendly and empathetic and helped us put the service together and make suggestions. The service she worked with us to deliver was everything we had hoped for and we couldn’t have done it without her. She played an essential role both in the lead-up, and on the day of the service. Thank you Frances, for all your help. R.K
On behalf of us all I would like to sincerely thank you for leading our goodbye to Mum at Clayton Wood last Tuesday. It was a beautiful service - moving, whilst calm and peaceful, and we very much appreciated your sensitivity and thoughtfulness. From our first communication, you put us at ease, showing interest in each of us individually, and encouraging and guiding us through our preparation for last Tuesday and the service itself. Your friendly, gentle and caring approach has helped us greatly at this time. F.B.
Thank you for all your understanding, help and kindness in steering us through organising G's funeral to the point where we actually came to understand what we wanted. The outcome was a wonderful service that you conducted with such warmth and inclusiveness, that was a celebration of G's life. So many people commented on how impressive you were. We are now able to look back on the ceremony with happiness, through the sadness, which is an outcome we never thought possible. A.W.
Frances was our celebrant yesterday, she was magnificent! With an enormous amount of planning by her, for us, she organised us in our grief; with sensitivity and honesty, which culminated in a triumph of our day of celebration. She set the perfect tone, a balance of respect for my wife with the grace, humour and dignity required when addressing over 60 people. A truly amazing day, I can't recommend Frances highly enough. D.H.
I could not have said goodbye to my husband without your help. You were there for me every step of the way and I can't thank you enough. The service was a beautiful celebration of his life and just how I wanted it to be. Your care and compassion gave me strength at such a sad time. H.S.