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Arranging a funeral from a distance

We recently received this kind ‘thank you’ note from one of our families:


“Thank you very much for your very professional, thorough and considerate services. Special thanks to Joanne, as she went above and beyond in helping me throughout in arranging, the majority of it from a distance. It was much appreciated by us all.”


It emphasises that not every family member we support to organise a loved one’s funeral is living locally. Sometimes family will have moved away – perhaps quite a distance or even overseas. Often, the family members who live overseas could well be planning to be back in the UK for the funeral but aren’t necessarily around for the planning stages.


While we are happy to welcome families into our building and are able to chat to them over a cup of tea and show them examples of coffins or urns, we are also used to supporting families who are not nearby. Our team can chat on the phone and then keep in regular contact, sending service sheet proofs and photos by email. Also, nowadays, we can easily jump on Zoom to talk everything through on screen and feel like we are ‘meeting’ each other, even though only virtually.


As an aside, if family members are travelling back abroad after the service and want to take some of their loved one’s ashes with them, we can provide a letter of explanation for customs and for the airline.


If family are living overseas and can’t get back for the funeral, then it is usually possible to live stream services, certainly from a crematorium, so they can feel part of the service on the day.


There might be reasons which prevent family who live fairly locally to Crowborough from visiting our office and, in these cases, we can arrange a home visit. It could be that a close relative is too frail to come in to see us or they might simply not have transport.


It also happens that sometimes, the thought of coming to a funeral home is simply too difficult for some people. We completely respect and understand that and will work around this for our families. We do appreciate that some people find it more comfortable to have those conversations with us in the familiar surroundings of their own home.


As we’ve said many times before, every funeral we arrange is bespoke and we will always work closely with a family to make sure their wishes are fulfilled whenever we possibly can.


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