Being a Funeral Celebrant is a tremendous honour and offers a precious opportunity to help people at the most difficult of times. Here’s some feedback from people I’ve had the privilege to support:

 

“Such a deeply kind and understanding soul with true empathy for fellow humans. We will be ever grateful for the service you gave us, Tim. We will remember you always and we think of you often with such comfort and calmness which is what you imparted to us.

There are not enough thanks we can give.  Love and peace to you.”

Kim Errington

 

“Tim did an amazing job. He went above and beyond to make sure we had the funeral ceremony we wanted for my dad. He spent so much time learning about my dad’s life and really supported us through the process.

Everyone commented on what a nice service it had been and it felt like a celebration of my dad’s amazing life rather than a depressing event. We really appreciate the support and guidance Tim gave and are really pleased we found him.”

The Kelly Family

 

“After the sudden and unexpected passing of my life-partner Tom, I was so relieved to have found Tim Holmes. From the initial consultation, he constantly offered his support, empathy and professionalism to help in this very stressful time. He took the time to really listen and encouraged input from the family to help with his understanding of just who Tom was and what he meant to us all. He expertly wove together a heart-warming and accurate picture of Tom and it was very obvious from the service that he had read and listened to everything – and there was a lot of input. Tom did not want any fuss nor an overly complicated funeral and Tim did us all proud and injected just the right amount of humour – capturing Tom’s personality really well. We did laugh with joy when recounting some poignant aspects of Tom’s life – Tim really summed him up well.

All of our family have said just how wonderful a service it was and were all happy that I found Tim. He not only conducted a great send off for Tom but made sure we were at ease both before and after the service.

I cannot thank Tim enough and if I could rate him out of 10, it would be a 20. A consummate, dedicated and caring Celebrant – you will always have my heart-felt thanks.”

Mark (and The Roberts Family)

 

“When my longest-standing and closest friend died recently, he left instructions for a natural burial at a rural burial site in Leicestershire. This was in the middle of lockdown and with no physical structures in the event of rain, it presented a real challenge. Fortunately, he’d asked that Tim act as celebrant before he died. This turned out to be an absolute blessing as Tim was fantastic, before, during and after the ceremony. He collaborated with us on the order of service, the eulogy and the readings and was very diplomatic regarding changes we wanted.

However, it was during the burial ceremony that Tim really came into his own. It was a surreal situation but Tim took it all in his stride, even in the car park where he brought a dramatic aura, calling to the assembly in his broad Yorkshire accent. The ceremony itself was truly amazing and everything we, and our fallen comrade, could have wished for. It all took place under torrential rain and dark skies, but Tim held it all together and it really was primal and magical. Can’t recommend him highly enough: gravitas, humour, charisma, clarity – he’s got the lot and we will be eternally grateful to him for guiding us through a difficult time. Cheers, mate.”

Harry Harrison

 

“Tim Holmes officiated at the funeral of my husband. He guided me through what was going to happen in detail and made it an easier process on a very difficult day. He explained everything in a caring, understanding and professional way.

The memories given to Tim by family were turned into the most touching, funny and fitting tribute to my husband. It was perfect and I could not have asked for anything better. Thank you, Tim.”

Andrea Didlock

 

“Thank you so much for the ceremony yesterday. We are so pleased we chose you, you got the ceremony exactly as we wanted it. Both my brothers agreed too and everyone who attended and watched online mentioned how nice the ceremony was. I think it really told the story of my dad and it felt like a celebration of his life rather than a depressing event.

I want to thank you as I know you put a lot of work into getting it right and we also really appreciated the support you gave us in preparation for the day.”

Marie-Anne Kelly

 

“Tim listened to us with sympathy and empathy, made us feel like he’d speak of mum with compassion, with words that would represent the beautiful person she was… The service was lovely, spoke of wonderful times and the caring, loving person mum was… Everyone said how good Tim was, how he did mum justice and we really appreciate this. Tim has a lovely caring way and listened to all our wishes for the service we wanted. Thank you deeply…”

Carey Hopkinson

 

“I know I’ve said it several times before, but just another massive thank you for all you did for Pete’s burial. Thank you for your awesome presence and for guiding us through the moment with warmth and sensitivity and power and love in equal measure.”

Kate Martin

 

“Tim’s words made me weep tears equally full of joy and sadness. Nothing’s ever made me experience that before. Such a wonderfully constructed collection of beautiful words that absolutely nailed it.”

Emma Birch

 

“We were both very pleased with the service and the way everything went – thank you so much. Lots of people approached us saying how lovely it was. My cousin Paul, from LA, said it was very personal and a lovely tribute. You actually made the service, I loved how you told the mums with the young children not to worry about the noise and keeping them under control. The poem you read was very apt. I know Susan would have enjoyed the afternoon surrounded by family and friends…

…Once again, thank you very much, you have such a professional, caring attitude and you made the whole procedure so easy.”

Ann Monks

 

Teddy’s Story

Our baby Teddy was born on November 23rd and he died the following evening.

Arranging your baby’s funeral is possibly the worst thing anyone could imagine having to do. I had been busy organising the nursery, thinking about places we could go together, picking his coming home outfit and just getting excited about being a mummy for the first time.

Everything crumbled around us in that horrific moment. It felt like every ounce of the world’s energy came crashing towards us, onto us from every direction. Like being hit by a tsunami.

The days that followed were confusing. We had so much information to process in the midst of such heavy sorrow. We had to seek support from friends to contact funeral directors and talk to officials about all sorts of stuff that we had never even contemplated.

We were given a humanist celebrant from the funeral place. Going along on autopilot, we spoke with her to arrange the service. I knew she wasn’t the right person but at the time had little energy to do much about it, I felt like I had to just ‘get things sorted’. One thing ticked off the horrible long list of to-dos.

The day after speaking to the first celebrant, I received a phone call and it was Tim. Tim had performed a service for a friends partner who had passed months prior. We had meant to contact him first but were told he was unavailable on the date of Teddys funeral, so we forgot about it and went forward, giving that autopilot button another push.

Tim called me out of the blue having got my number from our friend and wanted to offer his time and service as he was now available on the date. As soon as I spoke to Tim, I knew we had to have him perform the ceremony. His tone, his language, his northern accent! I felt able to speak so freely and openly about everything we were going through, about Teddy and about what our dreams and aspirations had been for us all.

In the weeks running up to Teddys funeral, time was strange, I can’t explain how it can be both so long and so short. We had so much to organise. If this was to be the only official ‘thing’ I was able to arrange for Teddy, I wanted it to be perfect. The most important part of that for me were the words we wanted to have spoken at the service. I didn’t want an ‘off the peg’ service, things that had been spoken over and over before. I wanted it to be heartfelt and special and powerful, but also comforting. All the things Teddy embodied if only so shortly in this life.

I had been writing since Teddy died, nothing other than the swirl of thoughts and words going round in my head, I had to get them out. I felt comfortable and able to share these with Tim in their raw form, just a splurge of words, for him to absorb and contextualise and to make sense of them for us, in a structured and beautiful way. This is exactly what he did.

Tim read and listened and chatted on zoom and messages, toing and froing, no hassle for him at all, any time or day, I knew I could just drop him a random thought or ask for something to be added or tweaked.

Tim found and offered some beautiful poems that I had never heard before, they were perfect for Teddy, capturing his essence, they were worked seamlessly into the service with our chosen readings and Tim’s eloquent wording which wrapped around everything to paint the full picture of Teddy and his little life. Tim transformed our thoughts into something everyone could connect with and understand.

It was one of the worst days of our life, in the fact of what we were doing… but some somehow it was truly and purely beautiful.

The funeral was on 29th of December and I had wished for snow, so that the world around us could feel pure and fresh, like Teddy was! It snowed! I hadn’t, however, thought about the logistical problems this granted wish may bring!

That morning, Tim got hit by a blizzard on the road just outside Sheffield, he called me to say he might not make it as he literally couldn’t see his hand in front of his face! He had to get to Nottingham. At that point, despite being a Humanist, I started praying to all the gods to just get Tim here safe! Just edging bets at that point!

Jason and I rode in the car with Teddy to the crematorium. More than ever, in those moments, Teddys tiny casket between us, I just knew and understood that life is always out of our hands. We have no control over anything, death, weather, traffic! The big and the small. We are at the mercy of something much bigger than us. We must accept and surrender.

We stepped out of car only to be greeted by Tim, in the flesh! I think he must have teleported there! I was so happy and relieved to see him, he looked so smart and I just knew everything was in the right hands now. We would have hugged him if it weren’t for the pandemic!

Jason carried Teddy in, I carried his flowers. The service was just beautiful.

I had such a sense of relief once it was over, as we left the Chapple, I felt like we had done justice for Teddy, we honoured him and I felt proud. In the only way we could.

I felt at peace, for the first time since Teddy had passed, I had a tiny moment of peace and it was very welcomed. It didn’t last forever but we had it, and Tim helped to make it. How can you ask for more than that? A tiny sliver of peace and light in the fog of all that pain, it was golden and quite magical.

The snow lay until midday when the sky opened and gave us the biggest double rainbow I have ever seen! The sun stayed out for the rest of the day. I’m not sure if Tim arranged that bit, but it was all part of the same magic and energy that was present that day. It wouldn’t have been so much so without Tim’s support and guidance through everything.

Such a deeply kind and understanding soul with true empathy for fellow humans.

We will be ever grateful for the service you gave us Tim, we will remember you always and we think of you often with such comfort and calmness which is what you imparted to us.

There are not enough thanks we can give.
Love and peace to you.”

Kim Errington