"We chose a non-religious celebrant."

Picture of Barbara and Douglas, older white couple, raising glasses. Text: We chose a non-religious celebrant.

"My parents, Barbara and Douglas, were married for 65 years before their deaths within three months of each other. They had lived a full life; raising children of their own and fostering others.

"Dad wanted no fuss; just a cardboard coffin, white van and no-one present. Mum felt she would like something different.

"Poppy's suggested just immediate family attend the crematorium to see Dad's coffin brought in and to have a short period of time to play a song or say a few words. This made it an easy choice for us to return to Poppy's when we needed to arrange Mum’s funeral.

"Neither parent was religious, and the celebrant recommended by Poppy's was excellent. She visited us before the funeral to find out about Mum’s life and guided us on the programme for the day. Afterwards everyone commented on what lovely service it had been.

"We felt it was important to honour their wishes in the type of funeral they had said they wanted. We were lucky that they had spoken so openly about it. We wanted the funerals to be a final goodbye that we could look back on without sadness."

Barbara and Douglas' choices

  • We chose cremation.
  • We chose the white van our dad wanted.
  • Our immediate family went to the crematorium.
  • We sang along to a favourite song.
  • We chose a secular celebrant to honour our mum.
  • We chose flowers our mum would have loved.
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