“Gaynor was amazing. She strangely feels like part of the family! She was amazing in the build up to the funeral, bringing out funny stories of my mum from the 3 sons. She took all the time we needed, and more, to cover the story of my mums life. She is such a perfectionist. Honestly, I would want her to represent my life at my funeral. The ceremony itself was outstanding, and Gaynor lifted the sombre mood with her amazingly final chapter of mum’s life in her eulogy. For me, from a client point of view, this is literally the best customer experience I have had in my 55 years on this planet. Thank you Gaynor, you were truly amazing.” – DS

“Gaynor was outstanding, she told the story of  ******’s life with empathy but joy also. Many people after the funeral request her name as they had not attended a humanist funeral before and felt that she was marvellous. This is the 2nd time we have called upon Gaynor for family bereavements and would do so again if needed.” – JH

“Gaynor’s warmth, empathy and sincerity shone through from our very first contact and throughout this emotionally difficult process. She was fully focused on supporting us in producing a beautiful Order of Service to honour the life of my husband and father to our four daughters. She is an extraordinary person who managed to bring us so much comfort and sense of purpose in these terrible moments. Her eulogy blended in so movingly with the texts we had chosen to honour my husband. We could not have wished for a more a more just send-off and are forever grateful for Gaynor’s huge contribution and support throughout.” – M-D O

“Gaynor was amazing from start to finish. From guiding me through the whole process, identifying potential funeral directors, positive suggestions for the funeral itself and further spending a not insignificant amount of time speaking with myself, ****’s (the deceased) family, my parents and other close individuals to ensure that she had a deep understanding of the departing individual and tailoring the whole experience accordingly. Everyone following the service was highly complimentary, commenting on how it was perfect for **** and exactly what he would have wanted.” – LB

“Gaynor went above and beyond to make our Mum’s funeral so beautiful and personal. Many people commented on how lovely the service was and how beautifully Gaynor delivered it. I thank her from the bottom of my heart for being such a lovely, compassionate lady. I’m so glad we were fortunate to have her as our celebrant. My mum would have loved her too.” – NP

“Gaynor was, from our very first meeting at our family’s most difficult time an absolute professional. Her attention to detail and delivery of our Husband/Dad’s memorial was beautiful, the comments we received from our guests was positive in every way, most people have said that they have never attended a service as unique and learned things that they didn’t know about ***. From the very first meeting until we said our farewells at the crematorium Gaynor was wonderful and her delivery of the service was impeccable. I would not hesitate to recommend Gaynor and her services.” – CM and family

“From the first time we met Gaynor, we knew that we had made the right decision to have a humanist celebration of my mother in law, *****’s, life, instead of a traditional service. Gaynor explained everything to us very clearly, putting our minds at ease. She then took the time to meet with our children and an elderly aunt to gain information about *****, and also share in some of the anecdotes which my children spoke of. During the course of the next few days, Gaynor kept in contact and updated us on everything she was doing, even changing things at the request of my wife when she had chosen alternative pieces of music to those originally chosen. When it came to the day, Gaynor was there to meet us at the door, putting us at ease. With regard to the ceremony, from the information Gaynor had got from us, to listening to the tribute she had written, it was as if Gaynor was one of the family. She had obviously listened to the way in which my children had spoken about their grandma, and somehow managed to capture them and their emotions in her words and the way she spoke them. From start to finish, nothing was too much trouble for Gaynor, she is a kind, compassionate, caring and considerate person who will be welcomed into my family again should the need arise, definitely when the time comes to celebrate the end of my life.” – DS

“I could not have asked for a better experience with Gaynor. She is one of the most sincere, reassuring and kind people I have had the pleasure to meet. Nothing was too much and she went the extra mile to support us. Checking in with us regularly in an appropriate and sensitive manner, visiting my Aunty before she died, listening to her story, holding her hand. Taking the reigns and making decisions when we felt unable, meticulously planning each and every detail. And all with such warmth and sincerity. She is wonderful. I recommend Gaynor to anyone looking for a celebrant. She made a difficult time a little bit more bearable. Thank you Gaynor.” – MM

“After just one meeting with the family Gaynor summed up my dad’s life to a tee. Her professionalism and sensitivity were incredible and I will be forever grateful to her for enabling our family to give dad such a warm and wonderful send off.” – HP

“I cannot thank this wonderful lady enough for the beautiful ceremony she put together for my Mum’s interment of ashes. Initially I was very nervous about meeting someone I didn’t know and talking about my Mum, my emotions were all over the place. At our meeting, Gaynor put me at ease. She asked the right questions at the right times, I didn’t feel rushed at all. She gave me ongoing support and kept me informed every step of the way. On the day of the service, although hard, it was perfectly delivered and exactly the perfect goodbye for Mum.” – AB

“I dreaded the funeral until Gaynor sent me the 1st draft of the ceremony. She transformed my wife’s funeral into a complete celebration of her life with dignity and compassion. Everyone was spell bound .” – MM

“Gaynor showed genuine interest in our family. She spent time listening to our experiences of Mum/grandma. She took notes non judgmentally, joining in with all aspects of our comments/memories. Gaynor was efficient and communicated well with us all. She patiently allowed us to shape our tributes, with the 4th draft being the final. Her presence at the funeral was warm and holding. She spoke with love and understanding and wisdom; acknowledging both the grief and celebration at the death our beloved 95 year old relative. Gaynor was so helpful afterwards at the buffet and she was able to make all there feel included and special. We would highly recommend Gaynor to anyone.” MP and sister

“I’ve had the worst 6 months I’ve ever known. Mum died out of the blue in February and 22 weeks later my brother died, again unexpectedly.
How do you know where to start with sorting out stuff when you have never had to plan a funeral for someone who is so close to your heart and you’re in a state of shock? To have to plan 1 is bad enough but 2 , wow. I’m not religious, neither are any of my family and the thought of having to go through the bible looking for verses and hymns filled me with dread.
This is where it started to get a little better.
Mrs Gaynor Doherty, Humanist Celebrant. She was very professional in helping me and my family through this difficult time.
She came round and talked about what sort of service she could do. She took time to learn all about each person from when they were born up until their untimely deaths.
The service was amazing, it celebrated their entire life and we chose the music that was special to each one of them and some poems that fitted accordingly.
Gaynor Doherty you are an amazing lady. No thank yous will ever be enough.
If anyone is wondering about this “Humanist” thing for a wedding or a funeral I would say definitely look into it..
Mrs Gaynor Doherty Humanist Celebrant .
Remember her name . Give her a call.” – CJ

“My  husband passed away too young. He always said he didn’t want a church ceremony for his funeral. I chose the humanist ceremony because it captured the life of ****** and, although dignified and respectful, it was an up an uplifting ceremony. Gaynor Doherty completely captured his life in an extremely moving and uplifting ceremony. The time and patience Gaynor has is in abundance for you. She spent a lot of time making sure all the way along, that it was what we wanted, without being too much. Her calmness and smiling, caring ways were very reassuring in what was such a terrible time for us. I trusted her completely and she did not let us down. The service we had was amazing. Our family and friends, although sad with the loss of ****** were uplifted and enlightened with his life through Gaynor’s service. I would highly recommend Gaynor for your ceremony. It truly was a memorable day for all the right reasons.” – AB

“Gaynor was so lovely and was so understanding and gentle in the way she wrote and presented the life of my mum She dealt with the not so good bits in a delicate professional manner. She made the ceremony as beautiful as she is a person.” – LF

“I want to say a huge thank you from myself and our family, the service you delivered for our Dad was perfect, you perfectly captured our stories and the character of ****.  You have such a beautiful way with words and your delivery was perfect, you made us smile, laugh and cry, I know my dad would have given you the thumbs up and would ply you with an extra-large measure of your chosen tipple.  I can’t thank you enough, you made a dark day lighter.” – EW

“Gaynor helped us to create a tribute to my dad that truly captured his essence and celebrated who he was. She helped us all through this difficult time in a really memorable way and we\’re so grateful to her for her support, generosity, compassion and understanding.” JH

“Although a very emotional time for us all, it was truly a celebration of his life. The words you spoke and your voice held us all together and made the service so beautiful. We had many comments from those attending and watching via the webcast, that it was the best funeral they’d been to – although they were seemingly a little embarrassed at whether expressing such an accolade was appropriate!” – JS

“It was a pleasure to work with Gaynor. She understood what we wanted and delivered a very personal service. She captured the essence of my brothers life and made what is a very sad occasion one that also brought joy in remembering not only that he had lived a very full life, which should be celebrated, but also left behind a lasting legacy in all that he achieved. Gaynor has a special way in delivering her service, by changing the tone in her voice, pausing, smiling, looking at family members when referring to them, enabling people to reflect. I imagined I would find the service very emotional but in fact I felt quite calm and came away thinking it was a meaningful farewell which I’m sure was in many ways due to Gaynor herself. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Gaynor. I’m sure she would deliver any service, funeral or wedding in the same caring and professional way.” – MR

“Gaynor worked very hard to help us plan the Celebration of our Mum’s life. She was considerate, professional, perceptive, calm & creative throughout the process. She visited us at our mum’s home a couple of times & liaised by phone & email. We had a complex series of photos to show on screens, music & several elements to the tribute, so she went as far as to visit the venue & also rehearse there on the morning of the event. Her compering was very sensitive & clear. She made the whole process so valuable. She was always positive. We were very happy with the way it came together & many people said how comforting & amazing they found the celebration! We are extremely grateful to her.” B & P

“I just wanted to thank you so much for the ceremony for mum.   Everybody has said how beautiful it was and how touched they have been by the whole thing.   A lot of that was down to you and how you gave the tribute – it really did come across as though you knew mum.” – SP

“Thanks again for officiating at Mother’s funeral yesterday and for all the hard work that you put into it beforehand. Everything went perfectly, and you hit exactly the right tone. Superb.” – PW

“I LOVED Friday! We certainly did Dad proud and I could not think of anyone else but you to be there for Dad and for us. Thank you so much for your time, care, laughs, patience and endless support, you are one in a million!” – VH