About me and my work

 

Hello, my name is Anna Davis and I am a funeral celebrant, trained and accredited by Humanists UK.

 

I create unique and deeply personal, non-religious funerals and memorial ceremonies that reflect how your loved ones lived their lives and how they shaped and formed yours too. It’s my honour to get to know that person, through talking with you, and to then bring their story to life, in a ceremony that paints a unique portrait of a unique person.

 

Humanist funerals aren’t just for humanists. Everyone should feel their beliefs respected in a humanist funeral and one way in which that can be acknowledged is in a moment of quiet reflection, during the ceremony. If anyone found comfort in using that pause for their own private prayer, that would, of course, be entirely respected.

 

Being a celebrant is a privilege. The first humanist funeral that I attended, has never left me. It was, of course, an occasion where people were carrying deep sadness and that grief was recognised and respected, but the person who we came to say goodbye to, had brought so much joy into the world, and in that ceremony, that joy came through, again and again. We left, feeling we’d been given a gift – an insight into that life and how they’d chosen to live it – something that we could take away from that day and honour in our own lives. That is what I hope to bring to my work as a celebrant.

 

I’ve lived in Wiltshire and London, but I moved to Brighton in 2002 to raise a family by the sea. For most of my working life, I’ve been a professional actor, combining that, in recent years, with work as an artist. I am a mother of two, a parent-advocate for deaf children in Brighton and Hove, determined to finish my first novel and an enthusiastic but disappointing tennis player.

“From our first meeting with you,
it was obvious that we had found a Celebrant
who had such a genuine empathy with,
and interest in, the person we had just lost.
We were amazed at how carefully you had listened
to our story and how you captured
the way we all felt about our Mum.”

Kate

“We cannot express enough gratitude
for the exceptional service provided by Anna
during our father’s funeral… helping us
navigate this emotional journey
with such grace and sincerity.”

Michelle

“Thank you so much for your hard work
– it was a beautiful ceremony

Ruth

Contact me

If you’d like to talk to me about planning your loved one’s funeral or memorial, please give me a call on 07798 627035 or email me and we can just have a chat and take it from there.