Derek Wilkinson
I am a funeral celebrant with over forty years' experience providing individually prepared funeral ceremonies and celebrations of life, many of which are non-religious in content. My ethos is to work with you, in your bereavement, to help prepare a ceremony suitable for your loved one. I will arrange to visit you; taking time to listen to your wishes, and together creating a ceremony that respects your individual views, beliefs and requests, as you seek to honour and celebrate the life of your loved one. I can help in finding suitable readings, music and all the other personal touches that make your funeral so individual and special. Whilst my personal worldview is from a Christian perspective, most of my clients are unaffiliated to any religious or faith group. I am happy to work with you in helping your family and your friends participate in any aspect of the ceremony if you wish. I work in association with, my colleague, Norman Daniels so that together we can seek to fulfill all requests of day, time and venue. To date we have been pleased to serve the clients of many local funeral directors. We work mainly in crematoriums but we are happy to perform green, woodland, traditional interments and burial of ashes as well as memorial ceremonies.
What kind of ceremonies do we take?
We will celebrate the life of your loved one in ways that are personally tailored to reflect the kind of ceremony you would like. For example, a ceremony could include:
We will celebrate the life of your loved one in ways that are personally tailored to reflect the kind of ceremony you would like. For example, a ceremony could include:
- Favourite or appropriate music (of any kind) at given points in the celebration
- A welcome and a brief explanation of the ceremony
- Poetry or prose readings, if appropriate (either traditional published poems and readings or ones the family has written)
- A 'tribute' to the deceased, mainly biographical, which could include, if the family wish, short contributions from family, friends and colleagues
- A time of reflection for silent meditation or private prayer
- The Committal or words of farewell
- A brief close, which can include thanks and announcements
- Prior to the funeral, we will visit you to discuss and plan the ceremony, wherever possible; talking you through a wide variety of options, listening to your wishes and incorporating them into the ceremony.
- We can provide a printed copy of the ceremony for the family to send to absent relatives or friends and kept as a memento.