For 33 years I was a police officer working with the Metropolitan Police.

I specialised as a family liaison officer and was honoured to be asked to many funerals and memorials and saw first-hand the benefit of a personal funeral to the family and friends of the deceased. I also saw the sadness and disappointment that a badly delivered or impersonal tribute caused.

 

When I came towards retirement I knew that my training and experience could be used to assist newly bereaved families. 

 

I want to help create funeral services that sum up the essence of a loved one and individual services that reflect the life just passed. To me it seemed that traditional religious funerals did not always seem appropriate, particularly when the deceased had no leaning towards religion in life.

 

Not everyone wants the same kind of service. Some will want aspects of religion like a hymn or prayer, others want no religious content. I encourage personal tributes, music, poetry - whatever seems appropriate to the person now departed.

 

I have seen all types of funerals over the years, but to me the most successful were those where the centre of the service was a celebration of the life of the departed.