Kind words from some of my funeral clients:

“…Few people had been to a humanist funeral, but everyone commented at how lovely it was, the family thought you captured Paul’s personality really well, and loved the ceremony all together and left with a feeling, not of sadness, but of comfort.”

“…Thank you so much for the exemplary way you ran the celebration of Paul’s life. It was a stroke of genius to choose Always Look on the Bright Side of Life as the closing “hymn” of the ceremony.”

“…It was so lovely to meet you last week and thank you for doing such a fantastic job at mum’s funeral. You set the perfect tone and we’ve had a lot of feedback from those who attended about how well you led the event. You made, what was a difficult day, so much easier and I think my mum would’ve approved.”

“…I don’t know how to thank you enough for the truly memorable service you did for Pat on Friday. It was unique to her. No other funeral comes close to that one & I’ve been to a fair few. Dismal and gloomy it certainly wasn’t. Dignified and funny in equal measure. Pat would have loved it. I can hear her distinctive voice: ‘Well that was amazing darling, where did you find that lovely lady? And wasn’t her dress gorgeous, all those lovely colours. I hate black at funerals.’ You brought her to life for us again and we were so moved by your moment when you thanked her for being who she was. Just wonderful.”

“…I can’t thank you enough for the wonderful job you did for Sandra, and our family and friends on Tuesday.
Sandra particularly said how well you understood what was needed and how you had talked about Keith just as she had wanted. She also commented on your lovely speaking voice. We thought you organised everything so well, the ceremony itself went like clockwork. The music slotted in just as you had arranged, well done.”

“…Thank you again for your support and ideas. I am still getting emails and notes from people thanking me for inviting them to remember Gaye with us. They all speak so positively about your presentation and style.”

Sue Cook, for Dave Cook 11th January 2022:

“When my husband was nearing death, I knew that although he was a spiritual man there was no way he would ever have wanted anything religious about his funeral.  A humanist seemed ideal – I’d been to a humanist ceremony before, and it very much fitted Dave’s beliefs.  And so I found Lizzie.

“I could not have found anyone better.  She totally understood exactly what I wanted – to have a celebration of Dave’s life rather than a gloomy service focusing on his death. Dave was 79 and had lived his life to the full, sadly succumbing over the past few years to Alzheimer’s so that his death was welcomed as he was no longer dealing with pain or distress. From a very active man, he had become bedbound and unable to communicate.  So what I wanted was to focus so much on the 78 glorious years he had had before the final year robbed him of so much. We had been together as a couple for 49 of those years and hence I had a wealth of stories about what Dave had got up to, many of them very funny incidents. And when I told Lizzie Dave had chosen his arrival music several years ago when we talked about funerals, she was not taken aback at all by his choice of ‘Entry of the Gladiators’ – the circus theme!

“And so I felt in trusted hands as, in not more than a week, we put together a ceremony to celebrate Dave’s life.  Especially impressive since Lizzie herself was recovering from one of the seasonal respiratory viruses at  the time, so we had to do this over the phone and via zoom call rather than face to face.  Lizzie timed and planned the photo slides I provided perfectly, presented the tribute for me with all the anecdotes with superb presenting skills and took everything that happened in her stride – even smoothly incorporating the phrase ‘the beat goes on’ into her presentation when one of our friends said this after reading a poem, whilst simultaneously playing a frame drum round the coffin in the chapel.

“Yes, it was serious. Any death is a serious fact, and this was certainly reflected, primarily when everyone present was invited to lay a bloom on the coffin and say their own goodbye to Dave. As was the way Lizzie explained humanist beliefs at the beginning – I know several there asked me afterwards about how I had found her as they liked the idea of a humanist service themselves when the time came.  But primarily her skill was in how she managed to bring Dave to life to those who were there, by being joyous about his life and how he had lived his 79 years.  It was exactly as I wanted and I am so grateful to her for doing it so well. It felt very much as if she had truly known him. And it’s not something you get a chance to do again!

“She also came along to the wake afterwards and stage-managed reading some other memories out, encouraging others to stand up and share memories too – and led us all in a singsong of one of Dave’s favourite songs with his own unique version of the chorus.  Many said they really enjoyed the occasion, enjoyed remembering Dave as he was in full glorious life, felt they knew him even better than before and appreciated the way that the service focused so much on his life, making everyone there aware of how this life we live must be treated as precious. It’s the only one we know we’ve got. And life, indeed, is for living.

“Thank you, Lizzie.  And I would not hesitate to recommend you for any similar service and am happy to be contacted further if anyone has any questions or is dithering about who to use.”

suecook111@btinternet.com

07789 670835