As a funeral celebrant working across the UK and Australia, I’ve seen how flowers show up in countless ways at farewells - humble, extravagant, wild, homegrown - and each time, they carry meaning. I believe flowers aren’t just for show; they’re an offering of love, beauty, and connection.
Read moreA Pilgrimage of Remembrance: Laying Belly to the Battleground
This ANZAC Day, I'm remembering - and reflecting on a pilgrimage taken ten years ago - to the battlefields of France, where the footsteps of my ancestors still echo in the soil and the violence in the earth called me belly to the ground.
Read moreHow to Write a Eulogy: 6 Tips to Bring Their Story to Life
Odd confession: I love writing eulogies. I’m mindful that this isn’t the case for most people. Writing a eulogy can feel like a very daunting task - how do you capture an entire lifetime in just a few minutes? Here are my tried & tested six tips to craft something that feels alive with the unique, brilliant essence of your person.
Read moreWhat is a Death Café?
Open, honest, and heartfelt conversation about death, dying, and living well - over cake and a cuppa. In a world where death is often a taboo topic, a Death Café offers a rare space to talk openly about our mortality, our fears, our hopes, and how we make meaning of our time here.
Read moreChildren and Funerals: Let Them Come
Sadie & I tending to the beautiful grave of my darling friend, Blair, who died suddenly from Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in 2011, aged 29.
I believe in taking children to cemeteries. I believe in including them in funeral ceremonies & the rituals of death - not to frighten or alarm them, but to teach them that dying is a part of life and that grief is a part of love.
Read moreFuneral Music Guide: A Playlist For Every Mood & Occasion
As both a Funeral Director and a musician, helping you choose the right soundscape for a funeral ceremony is something I am deeply passionate about. But where to even start?! I’ve put together a series of playlists to help guide and inspire your choices.
Read moreDivorce Ceremony: Honouring an Ending, Blessing a Beginning
We mark the beginning of a marriage with vows, rings, and celebration. But when a marriage ends, there is often no ceremony - just paperwork, division of assets, and a quiet, complicated grief that society doesn’t always know how to hold.
Read moreFuneral Celebrant vs. Funeral Director: What’s the Difference? (And Why I Do Both)
For many people, the words ‘funeral celebrant’ and ‘funeral director’ sound interchangeable. But in reality, they’re distinct roles - and, as someone who wears both hats, I want to share why that matters.
Read moreMy Journey to Interfaith Ministry
I’ve always been drawn to life’s big transitions - the moments that crack us open, break us down, lift us up, and reshape us. Ceremony has been woven through my life for as long as I can remember, thanks in no small part to my grandmother…
Read moreFunerals + Estranged Family: Does Everyone Deserve a Funeral?
Funerals are traditionally gatherings where family and friends come together to grieve, share stories, and say goodbye. But what happens when the person who has died was estranged from their family? What if their relationships were fractured, complicated, or even painful? Does everyone deserve a funeral?
Read moreI Hope You Never Need Me (But When You Do, I'm Here.)
Despite it being one of life’s only certainties - not many people like to think about death. It’s one of those topics we push to the edges. And truly, I hope you never need me. But when you do, know that I am here.
Read moreHow To Speak Through Grief
“Givvus a kiss, I’ve got my lippy on tonight.” 💋 11 years after her sudden death, I revisited the eulogy I gave at my Nan’s funeral in 2013 - and I learnt a lot about speaking through grief.
Read moreMy Dad Is A Watchmaker
My dad is a watchmaker.
Passionate about the art of horology, the study of time and the phenomenal stories that lie behind the creation of intricate time pieces, old and new.
I’d never seen this photo of my Grandma Dordy.
I discovered it recently whilst trawling through hundreds of my Papa’s slides that my Uncle lovingly had digitised. This particular photo leapt out to me and smiling, I’ve sat with it a long time since.
Read moreFarewell Thirties. Forties: let's do this.
In those 10 years I’ve lived in 8 homes. Travelled through 15 countries. Retrained, got ordained and found my love tribe. I wrote songs and made albums and sung through tears with the choir. I married beloveds. I buried beloveds. I walked alongside many in their despair.
Read moreMy remarkable Mum survived a ruptured aneurysm & brain haemorrhage.
It’s a world changing phone call, that one. When all of a sudden, on a regular Monday morning - somewhere between coffee & Cocomelon - a phone call tectonically shifts your entire state of being and knowing.
Read moreA year+ on from birthing, I’m beginning to find my voice
A beacon of wholesome warmth, Yolande was unflinching in her holding of me - from the early months of our pregnancy right through to the reluctant induction at 42+1 and the roaring battle that followed…
Read moreMy prayer is an altar.
My prayer is an altar. Strewn with colour & cold, Thoughts new & old, Copper & flowers & eggs & grief, It can hold it all. Pints heavy with beer, That time I broke your trust last year…
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