Arranging a Funeral

A funeral marks the close of a human life on earth. It’s the opportunity for friends and family to express their grief, to give thanks for the life in this world and to commend the person into God's keeping.

If you are arranging the funeral, the person who has died may have left a paragraph in their Will describing the sort of funeral arrangements they had hoped for or you may have already had the conversation with them. Either way, you’ll want to keep to such arrangements as far as possible and we can help you do this.

You’ll want the funeral service to reflect the personality of the one who has died as well as the circumstances of their death. Everyone has the right to a funeral in their Parish Church, even if they have not been a churchgoer and you’ll need to consider whether burial or cremation is to happen.

Our churchyard is open for burials and we also have a special place set aside for burying ashes.

Our Parish team regard the taking of funerals and the support they can give to the family at this time as an important part of their work.

Some practicalities

If you would like one of the local clergy to take the service, you should contact the Parish Office to check that they are available before you make other arrangements. The funeral director that you appoint will play a very important part in all arrangements and will want to know if the funeral is to be in the Parish Church or if the service will take place in the crematorium. At either place, the service can be the traditional funeral service from the Prayer Book or Common Worship or with the addition of hymns, favourite prayers and readings, an address and a Communion Service. If there is to be an address and the priest did not know the dead person well, then it would help to provide some details.

The funeral service of the Church of England can be very short and quiet with only a few members of the family present or an occasion of great solemnity or thanksgiving with music, hymns and a packed church. 

Of course we have strong relationships with local funeral directors so we shall help you as much as we can.

Find out more about the funeral service.