Sally's Funeral In Two Parts
Sally's Cremation And Gathering Afterwards
Sally's funeral was in two parts on the same day. We began with a funeral ceremony at the crematorium (costs were an issue and the family booked the first slot of the day at 9.30am which was cheaper than later in the day).
Sally had been a Quaker and so at her request the funeral had a 10 minute silence as part of it - we also included some of her favourite music - something soothing as her friends and family entered, and a very upbeat uplifting track to finish. We talked about Sally and her life and had a beautiful reading and a tribute to her written by her daughter (who didn't feel up to reading it during the ceremony, but had found comfort in writing it).
The time allowed in the crematorium felt a bit restrictive for her family to really honour Sally's life in half an hour. So we suggested that everyone make their way back to Sally's house straight after the crematorium for a 'sharing'.
We began by getting everyone seated and settled, took a moment of silence and said a brief prayer, and then we invited everyone to sit in silence and during the course of the silence, anyone who wanted to, could say something about Sally. We were about 35 people and over the course of the hour most people spoke about how they knew Sally and what they'd loved about her - she'd had a very rich and full life, and was a very positive role model for many there so left behind a great legacy of stories and comforting memories and inspiration. We took an hour for the 'sharing' and finished at 12pm with a closing prayer leading into a champagne toast and then a finger buffet.
The atmosphere of the funeral ceremony and 'sharing' had been intimate, and the informality of the 'sharing' time in Sally's front room perfectly complemented the more formal funeral ceremony in the crematorium. The informality in the front room lended itself beautifully to allow Sally's daughter and teenage grandchildren to speak and they also really appreciated hearing other people's stories of their Mum and Grandma.