We are happy to meet with families at our premises, however if you prefer us to visit you at home, we are willing to do that. Alternatively, we can complete all of the necessary paperwork electronically without the need for our client to visit our premises.

Your Funeral Arranger will discuss what decisions have already been made relating to the funeral – either by the family or the deceased themselves. We will then guide the family through some of the aspects they may not yet have considered – providing options, possible alternatives and advice.

There are often matters which require more thought, or consultation with other members of the family and this is quite normal. Your Funeral Arranger will make a note of these matters and be able to advise you how long you have until a final decision is needed.

We will also give information about formalities that need to be considered, such as registering the death, and other matters which may be relevant, such as Coroners’ procedures, or transfer of grave ownership.

As well as planning the format of the funeral day itself, for Bespoke funerals, we can provide a range of additional services, such as handling of donations, provision of Order of Service sheets and floral tributes. We can also provide more unusual touches such as a Dove Release.

Your Funeral Arranger will guide the family through all of the options available to you and will provide an estimate of the likely costs and discuss how these are to be met.

We will then make the appropriate arrangements with local authorities, churches and officiants at the earliest opportunity.

If the funeral service is to be held at a place of worship such as your local parish Church, then the person taking the service will be one of the ministers or elders associated with that Church.

If the service is to take place at another venue, such as the Crematorium or Cemetery Chapel, then the choice of officiant is wider, and your funeral arranger will discuss with you the type of service you would like to hold. This could range from a traditional Church of England service to a completely non-religious ceremony. Sometimes, family members may personally know the person they would like to take the service, and we will begin by contacting them before we make any further arrangements, to ensure that they are available to take the service.

We are experienced in arranging funerals for various world faiths, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hindism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.

If a traditional Christian service is required, we can approach the Church of England minister from the Parish where the deceased lived, or a retired or independent minister from the local area.

For those who would like the religious content of the service to be lighter, we can enlist the services of a celebrant to provide a dignified funeral service, with your desired blend of content.

If religious content is not appropriate, we can enlist the services of a civil celebrant or secular humanist. Please note that some humanists are not willing to include religious references, such as hymns or prayers in a ceremony they are conducting so you may wish to consider if this is appropriate before making this choice.

We can help organise special pieces of music to be played at the funeral that are personal and relevant to the life or tastes of your loved one.

All crematoria have digital sound systems and can obtain the more common pieces of music played at funerals. You can choose commercially available music, including popular, classical and religious pieces. We can no longer take CDs to any of our local crematoria.
If the piece of music you’d like is less well known, we will need as much notice as possible to arrange this.
In the absence of specific requests, music played either in church or at a crematorium will normally be chosen by the organist or the crematorium.