CORONAVIRUS – COVID-19

as of 23rd March 2020

I am currently well and following Government recommendations. If you need my help to honour a loved one during the current crisis I will be available to conduct funerals though with some restrictions.

Home Visits

As Humanist Ceremonies are personal and detailed about the life and personality of the deceased this normally involves at least a 2 hour family meeting. After much consideration, and in response to today’s announcement by Government, I am no longer offering home visits until the worst of the outbreak is over. It’s just not worth the potential of unknowingly bringing the virus into your home. Instead we can meet remotely either by phone or video link via WhatsApp. We will then work together to put the ceremony together via email, phone or again video link. I’m sorry if this makes it feel impersonal but I will spend as much time as needed to work with you to reassure you in the build up to the funeral.

Ceremony
At the funeral itself I will have to refrain from personal contact and I will follow hygiene and social distancing. This means I will no longer greet mourners at the door, instead I will wait at the lectern at the start of the ceremony and after a goodbye from a distance I will leave rather than wait on the flower terrace.

Crematorium limits
Different Crematoriums are setting different practices and restrictions on numbers and your Funeral Director or I will confirm this.

Video links
Many Crematoriums offer video links for those who are unable to attend or you can live stream the ceremony yourself.

Memorials
One thought is to hold a small family ceremony or even have a direct, unattended cremation and then plan a more detailed Memorial event for everyone once it’s safe and groups are able to gather again.

Network backup
If I have created the script but then have to self isolate on the actual date of the funeral I will contact the Humanist Celebrant network to find a colleague who will be able to conduct the ceremony on my behalf.

If you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to contact me.
Jackie

If you are thinking about a non-religious funeral for a family member or friend, where you can say farewell in a way that is meaningful,  please get in touch. I will arrange to meet you face to face so that together we can create  a personal, unique and bespoke ceremony that reflects the person they were in life and what they meant to the people they leave behind.

Whether you want a simple, straightforward ceremony or to design something a bit different, take part in the ceremony yourself or leave it all to me, you will be supported as much or as little as you need to create something that feels right to you.

I conduct highly personalised funeral ceremonies which celebrate and honour the life of the person who has died.

I live in Wolverhampton and am available to conduct funeral ceremonies across the West Midlands, including Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Birmingham, and over into Shropshire and South Staffordshire.

Please contact me either by email or phone for an informal chat. If I’m unable to answer the phone immediately, please leave me a message and I’ll call you back.

Contact me:

M: 07914 535906

E: jackie.taylor@humanistceremonies.org.uk