Poppy’s has arranged more funerals than ever in 2025. We’re grateful to every client who has trusted us to help them organise the funeral that was right for them. As the year draws to a close, we wanted to share some of our other highlights from the year at Poppy’s.
1. Poppy’s celebrates first anniversary in Sheen
In February, we celebrated the first anniversary of our warm and welcoming shop on Sheen High Street. It’s been wonderful to become part of the friendly and thriving community in East Sheen, and to be able to support so many local people to arrange the funeral they want and need.
2. World’s first mushroom coffins offered to Poppy’s clients
We were excited to be among the first funeral directors in the UK to offer Loop Biotech’s innovative and beautiful mushroom coffins. The Loop Living Cocoon is grown from mycelium - the vegetative part of a fungus, similar to the roots of a plant - and once in the ground, it can biodegrade within 45 days. And they’re beautiful, too! This is just one of the ways we are offering more environmentally friendly options for clients, as part of our commitments as a B Corp.
3. Walking and talking with clients on Tooting Common
This year, we launched our Walk and Talk series - gentle walking sessions on Tooting Common for clients of Poppy’s. Thankyou to everyone who has walked, talked and shared with us so far. Stay tuned for details of our next Walk and Talk, which will take place in the spring.
4. Death Cafés
We’ve continued to run Death Cafés in Tooting and Sheen this year. We’re proud to offer these free, open and welcoming spaces to talk about death, as part of our commitment to bringing death and funerals out from behind closed doors. Our next Death Café is in Tooting on Thursday 22 January.
5. Poppy’s continues to grow
We’ve welcomed lots of new faces to Poppy’s this year, including new On the Day Funeral Directors, support staff and members of the mortuary team. As we grow, we’re committed to continuing to offer Poppy’s unique, human approach to each and every client.
6.
Supporting more people to think about their funeral wishesWe offer My Funeral Wishes consultations to anyone looking to explore their choices when it comes to their funeral. We’re passionate about offering this space to help people to think through what matters to them when it comes to their funeral - no matter what stage of life. Find out more and book your own My Funeral Wishes consultation here.
7. Opening the doors to our mortuary space
In spring and autumn, we hosted our Poppy’s Open Afternoons. We welcomed the community into our beautiful mortuary space to talk about what outstanding death care looks like, and to answer their questions. All are welcome to these free biannual events - to find out when our next Open Afternoon will be, sign up to our newsletter.
8. Poppy’s acknowledged for promoting kinder language for the dead
Poppy’s was mentioned in a Law Commission consultation paper for challenging harmful language in the funeral sector. Poppy’s is committed to improving the quality of funeral care for all. Using clearer, more human language about the dead can support better and more open practices across the funeral sector. We will continue to use our voice to advocate for quality death care until it is available to all.
9. Poppy in the news
Poppy appeared on BBC Radio London talking about death and grief; was interviewed by The Week Junior on how to support young people when someone dies and answered twenty questions on her life and career in the funeral sector in the Funeral Service Journal. Watch a snippet of Poppy’s BBC Radio London interview here.
10. Training organisations on quality death care
We provided training to a range of organisations that are supporting people at end-of-life. Through this training we empowered professionals including lawyers and hospital and care home staff to feel more confident talking with their clients about what happens when someone dies.
Looking ahead to 2026
We are currently preparing to open a new shop in Wimbledon. We’re excited to be able to offer Poppy’s fresh approach to funerals to more people in South London – keep an eye out for more news on this in the coming weeks.
To learn our latest news and find out about our events schedule in 2026, sign up to our newsletter.
