What Families Said…
I just wanted to thank you for the service today for my uncle. The service today has helped me to come to terms with my uncle’s unfortunate death and helped my clarify my feelings towards him. I just wanted to thank you for being a part of the reason that I have found peace and closure. January 2017
Dear Rachel, Thank you doesn’t seem adequate for the Ceremony you gave to Celebrate ***** Life. It was dignified, sad but light hearted and a perfect interpretation of my opinion of his life as I saw it. I also much appreciated having a copy of the Ceremony to re-live and mull over from time to time the whole experience of the time I spent with *****. I believe He would have appreciated the way the Service evolved especially departing, at his request, to the sounds of a tune from John Wayne’s film Red River ‘Settle Down to Missouri’. March 2017
This was the best funeral I have ever been to. I want to book you for mine! The suggestion of applause was great. G****** would have loved that!” December 2017
Rachel Narkiewicz was quite simply wonderful. When we first met Rachel it only took us 2 minutes to realise we had found the right person. Her manner was gentle and wise and she instantly understood exactly how we wanted the service to be. She came to our house to get a feel for ***** and for his family and we didn’t have to repeat anything. She got it right first time. She never pretended to know ***** on the day of his memorial but I had the impression she was as moved by the eulogies as everyone else and this came across in the warmth she showed us all. She sent me a complete script before the memorial so I knew everything that was going to be said ( I didn’t want any surprises) and the service was well structured and professional. She was able to introduce a religious element for those in the room who had a faith and many people told me that the 4 minutes we had for reflection was an important part of the service. If any of your future clients are having doubts or worries about conducting a non religious ceremony then please use this as a testimonial and high recommendation for Rachel Narkiewicz. May 2017
Saying goodbye to you on Monday did not do justice to the gratitude I feel for how you made the funeral service for Dad such a warm and positive event. Just 25 minutes to say goodbye to someone who has been in your life for 60 years is not very long but I feel we were able to do justice to our feelings of loss and our memories –and for all those others present. Your help with a fabulous selection of readings and the overall message of valuing what it means to be human and how not to dwell on the loss was perfect and helped us through. We left feeling positive about how we had been able to say our goodbyes in a way that was appropriate to who Dad was and how he lived his life – it also gave us a valuable message for how to lead our own. January 2018
Thank you so much for carrying out the Ceremony for ***, we could not have asked for anything more. You were just the right person for us and her. Right from the start you just seemed to know what was required, how to get it out of us, and then managed to get it across to everyone there. So many people who attended, both religious and not, came to us after to say how lovely the whole thing was, and they all seemed to agree that it was perfect and fitting for *****. Woodland Burial May 2018
Just thought I would belatedly let you know about all the wonderful comments we had from Mum’s friends about the funeral. Mum’s close friend Anne said last weekend that she felt as if you had known Mum by the way you spoke about her. Thank you again for what you did -it helped so much to honour mum’s life and help us start to come to terms with her death. July 2018
Thank you so much for all the care and effort you put into making the funeral such a positive occasion. I felt your delivery was exactly right; everyone said how much they appreciated your address, and discovering so much about her life. Finding the right tone in a non-religious context is tricky, as we now have no common language for such things, but people said that it worked for them, so congratulations on that. We wanted to do justice to her life, and I think your input was a major factor in helping us to do that. December 2019
Just to reiterate- you truly made one of the most difficult times so much easier to manage and helped us to send Vic off in the way that he would have approved of by a fellow comrade! Thank you once again for your kind words. December 2020
We would all like to thank you so much for the wonderful ceremony yesterday – it was exactly what we wanted for Mum. I know she would have been so pleased – it was a really good reflection of her life and your delivery was perfectly pitched. A number of people commented on what a lovely ceremony it was, and so appropriate for Mum. July 2021
Dad and I particularly appreciated how easy you made this potentially very difficult process – you are so compassionate and easy to talk to. We could not have hoped to be in better hands. August 2021
Thank you very much for running the ‘service’ so well yesterday. It was great to have laughter among the tears and was very much what she wanted. September 2021
I just wanted to say now that the dust has settled a tiny bit, how grateful we were to you on the day of ***** funeral. Your words were so wonderful so thought out so appropriate so perfect, it helped make the whole occasion as wonderful as we could’ve possibly hoped it was. All of the comments from my friends and family said the same, that you were absolutely wonderful. Thank you for making a painful occasion one that we will never forget, one that no one in the room will ever forget, one that was absolutely suitable for our wonderful ****. We really felt that you took some time to really understand us, and ***** and that we wanted the event to be a celebration, and it really was. June 2022
Having your Humanist ceremony made it such a more personal service. I’m pleased we made this choice as previously we’ve had religious funerals for other relatives which I don’t remember. I think this one I will remember though as it was such a more meaningful and fitting tribute so thank you for all you’ve done. August 2022
Thank you on behalf of the whole family for everything you did for today. My father now converted has requested we keep in touch for the future and his eventual needs ( however long into the future they may be) because he genuinely found your handling of the service incredible and touching. November 2022