I met up with a lovely celebrant and bereavement counsellor yesterday called Margaret Foxley who runs A Modern Funeral and we had a chat about the current state of funeral costs, the ways people are pushed into making decisions they may not need and the overarching grip of Dignity on a lot of the funeral services in the UK. It's mind boggling how people are seemingly taken advantage of and given a service that feels personal but is on the whole a routine, standardised presentation of someone's life in less than half an hour. Margaret lost her daughter in an accident when she was only in her twenties and eventually felt that people should be given a more personalised, special way for their loved one's to be sent off, instead of being forced to use specific locations and services because 'that's what you do'.
Things need to change and with my songwriting memorial services and A Modern Funeral's approach I honestly feel we could pave the way for a brand new way of being remembered and begin a new tradition of remembrance.