The following testimonials are from families I have worked with who have kindly agreed that I may share their (mostly anonymised) feedback, some of which has come via the Humanists UK feedback form and some directly to me:

“Sophie was truly wonderful, from the very first contact in discussing the funeral service onwards.  I couldn’t have wished for a more compassionate experience despite the pain of losing my beloved Mother.  She captured the spirit of my parents beautifully, conveyed their humour and delivered their story exactly as I wished it to be.  My family and friends were very grateful for her empathy and kindness throughout the funeral. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Sophie as she truly made the difficult process of arranging a funeral for the first time, much less of an arduous task. I’m extremely thankful that she was part of our day.” (Linzi Bowen)

“The whole family was very impressed with Sophie throughout both the memorial services she led, one more traditional and one an ecological burial. Everyone was very impressed with how Sophie helped us talk about who M was, and the script captured her really well. Before speaking with Sophie, I’d had some complicated feelings towards my mother’s memorials, but speaking with Sophie about her and the sorts of things that might be included made me feel much more comfortable about them, and happy that we had the opportunities to celebrate her.”

“Sophie did an excellent job with great authority and presence.  She made me feel confident and consulted me at every stage.  Her tribute captured the true essence of my husband.  I found this truly remarkable.  I could not recommend her highly enough.”

“Sophie is a lovely, warm person who has the perfect blend of professionalism, empathy and humour.  She delivered exactly the ceremony we all hoped for, and would highly recommend her services.”

“Sophie encapsulated my mum’s life from the information I gave her and delivered the service very beautifully. So many people commented on how lovely the service was and even a comment that it was the best funeral they had been to!  The whole day just flowed from the service to the wake.  It made a very sad day into something to remember.”

“I think we would all like to say a very big thank you to you for holding it all together for us yesterday.  So many people at the wake commented on how well you conducted the service and how you gave it the right amount of gravity laced with some optimism and hope… I hope that the experience of a humanist funeral will give others pause to think and to feel that there are many ways to honour the death of a loved one and all that that means.”

“I just wanted to make contact and say thank you so much for the beautiful way you handled my father’s funeral yesterday. It really went off without a hitch and we all so appreciated your calm, thoughtful and professional running of the ceremony.  It really was a fitting goodbye to a very special man.”

“Sophie was excellent, very understanding and sympathetic to our loss.  Sophie conducted the ceremony and delivered the tribute to the highest level making a difficult time just a little easier.”

“From the time I met with Sophie with my sister and sister-in-law, we were confident that we were in capable and caring hands.  Sophie was highly responsive and maintained great communication throughout.  Everything she did was carried out to a high standard and at each stage, efficiency was perfectly balanced with sensitivity dignity and empathy.  I’m now exploring the humanist movement.  Thank you Sophie!”

“Sophie Pandit is an amazing person.  From our first contact with her, we felt completely reassured that she would be able to plan and deliver the ideal ‘goodbye’ service for our close friend who died aged 100.  She liaised with the undertakers, answered all emails promptly, dealt with all our queries and was impressively firm about keeping the service to the allotted time.  I was a bit sad not to be able to have a particular piece of music, but Sophie was quite right, it would have pushed things to the absolute boundaries, time-wise.  As when arranging a wedding, funerals can prove a hotbed of opportunity to upset someone along the way.  Thanks to Sophie, this didn’t happen and the service was just perfect.  Sophie came to see us at home within 48 hours of being appointed by the undertakers to find out everything she could about our friend’s life.  The visit wasn’t rushed in any way at all and by the time she left, we felt that she had got a pretty good grasp of our friend’s professional and personal life.  Sophie got to the Crem at least an hour early and rang us at home to reassure us that she was ahead and waiting – such a thoughtful thing to do.  She conducted the service with professionalism, kindness and To Time.  Thank you, Sophie, for all your support.”

“Sophie was wonderful.  Her eulogy was lovely and she managed the ceremony in a caring and empathetic manner.”

“Sophie was lovely.  Very easy to work with to agree the service and she delivered it exactly as planned.”

“Thank you so much for your kindness and support and professionalism in conducting my husband D’s ceremony.  It was beautiful and went just as we wanted.”

“I would like to thank you on behalf of myself and the family for the beautiful service.  You did M proud.  He would have been really pleased with the way you spoke about his life.  I don’t think there is anyone who could have done a better job.  It was always a worry of mine that I would find the right person and I’m so glad I did.”

“Thank you for leading Mum’s service with such humanity and warmth, and for making the build-up such a smooth-running and effortless experience.  Your easy flexibility and reliable communication left me to concentrate on those things I knew to be my responsibility alone, which was a great relief at a difficult time”.

“Thank you so much for leading the ceremony and helping to create order, organisation and direction at an extremely overwhelming and upsetting time.  You helped us to give mum the best possible send-off and celebration of life and we are so grateful.  The ceremony was absolutely perfect, a happy, fitting tribute and celebration of mum’s life and journey… she would have absolutely love it and everyone was thrilled.  Thank you so much for helping us to create this.”

“I want to thank you for all your kindness, care and help you have given me before, during and after S’s ceremony.  It helped me just talking to you about our life together and gave me the strength to do ‘My Tribute’ to him.  Also for delivering a perfect service for S.  I think he would have been pleased.  I know his siblings and my family all said how wonderful you were not only during the Ceremony but afterwards as well.”

“… thank you so much for conducting my father’s life celebration so beautifully today.  Everyone thought it was a lovely service.”

“I think yesterday’s ceremony was lovely and N, J & I said afterwards that it was perfect for mum and we think she would have been very pleased. A & D thought it was one of the nicest funerals they’d ever been to… Thanks for your sympathetic work and kind understanding in helping us shape the ceremony…your involvement made a difficult job so much nicer!”

“I would like to thank you also, on behalf of my mother and family, for helping us throughout this difficult couple of weeks.  We felt the whole service went as well as could be expected and has certainly given me a positive memory to look back on, certainly not what I expected.  You have been a great help.”

“Just wanted to thank you for a most memorable service and send off for Dad/L!  He was an incredible man which we totally believe you understood and captured in his funeral.  As a family we will be forever grateful for your sensitivity and understanding and we will forever remember Dad by your compassionate words.”

“As far as funerals go, this was perfect.  Sophie was a lovely person, and gave my husband the farewell he would have wanted.  Family and friends who attended also felt it was perfect”.

“… can I just say how wonderful we all thought the ceremony was and how great you were at delivering it and coordinating it all, we really appreciate your efforts”.

“What a lovely service you gave us for D – he would have been most impressed!  Your attention to detail, your kindness and sense of humour have helped me enormously and you managed to make a potentially horrible experience bearable so thank you so very much.”

“Thank you so much for all the time and hard work you put into making my father’s burial and celebration so personal and positive.  Friday was everything we could have wished for and I’m confident Dad would have been most appreciative.  We have received very many compliments, which should, of course, have been directed to you.”