A humanist funeral is more than a leave-taking.  It is also the celebration of a life that has ended, and an opportunity to share memories of the person who has died, and to consider the influence they have had on other people, their family, and their friends.

If you choose me to be your funeral celebrant, I will talk with you to find out about the person who has died and arrange a ceremony which suits you and your family’s needs.  I will write and conduct the funeral ceremony and I can include tributes, readings and music you have chosen.  If family and friends wish to read or speak that is always welcome but not essential.

You may wish to plan your own funeral while you are alive and I am very happy to help with those plans too.

I am also a non-religious member of the chaplaincy team at the Royal Devon and Exeter University Hospital, offering spiritual and pastoral support to non-religious people who are patients in the hospital as well as to their families.

I have conducted funeral and memorial ceremonies at the Exeter and Devon Crematorium, East Devon Crematorium and Glynn Valley Crematorium; at Beer Cross Woodland Burials and the Crediton Cemetery; and in a pub in Exeter.

You can contact me directly for more information about humanist funerals and memorials, or you can ask your funeral director to contact me.

Comments from families:

Jackie far exceeded our expectations. We wanted a tribute/memories based ceremony which resulted in lots of emailed tributes and phone calls in a short amount of time that required the draft of the ceremony to be continually updated. On the day Jackie spoke really well giving feeling to the tributes and managed the ceremony in a very smooth way. I feel we were lucky to have Jackie and would thoroughly recommend her to anyone else.

Jacqueline supported us to manage and plan the service we wanted for our 13 year old son, which resulted in a dignified, highly personal service. Jacqueline was genuinely interested in our family and ensuring she did what we wanted for our son.