“Our critical day is not the very day of our death, but the whole of our life” John Donne

“The value of life lies not
in its length, but in the
use we make of it.”
Michel de Montaigne

We have been supporting bereaved families and people facing death for many years and were trained by The British Humanist Association. Bev is also a lecturer and consultant for the Open University’s Death and Dying Course. Whilst working for a Social Services team she was a member of a trauma, advice and counselling team and has been specially trained in grief, loss and death. Paul’s background is in youth and social work especially with people with a disability. He has a special interest in supporting bereaved parents.

Our approach however is based on our own personal experiences of losing parents, close friends and experiencing miscarriages. We have a genuine desire to offer a service that affectionately honours the life of the deceased person in a dignified but also warm and honest way.

Once you have booked either one of us we will arrange to meet with you. Each service is individually written because during a visit (or phone call if a visit is not possible) we will listen to your stories and memories and help you to plan the kind of ceremony where the person’s life and who they were will be celebrated in a personal and unique way.

Having officiated at many non-religious (humanist) funerals throughout Greater Manchester and the surrounding areas we can help you to decide about music, rituals, readings and your own contributions. We have lots of ideas and can advise you about including children who may be too young to speak or who will not be present.

We also appreciate the difficulties when trying to respect family members’ different beliefs and faiths. We would usually include time for people to reflect according to their own beliefs but are also more than happy to discuss with you ways to offer inclusion of religious elements.

Following this meeting a script will be written and sent back to you to look at, add to and amend. Unlike other services a non-religious humanist ceremony allows you to have some real control and a say in what will happen. As you can see from comments, people often say afterwards how fitting the ceremony was and what comfort they found in providing a ceremony that was exactly what the person who had died would have wanted.