Tackling Funeral Poverty - Solidarity Ceremonies

Funeral poverty is worsening year on year. Sun Life produces a report annually on the Cost of Dying and they estimates one in people five people / families paying for a funeral will get into financial difficulty with it. The North East of England is one of the regions most affected by poverty and inequalities. For this reason, funeral poverty is likely to be experienced by more than one in five grieving families here.

As a Community Celebrant, I recognise it is not enough to offer high quality celebrancy only to those who can afford to pay. Doing so is not in line with my inclusive values. However, it is not sustainable to waive the cost of funeral celebrancy - doing so would close my celebrancy practice down. To solve this concern, I have developed a community initiative called Solidarity Ceremonies.

Solidarity Ceremonies is a simple pay it forward scheme. The scheme helps fund celebrancy costs for a family or person in financial need who is organising a funeral. The option to pay it forward will be offered to all my community celebrant clients, with no pressure, expectation or judgement. Anyone, whether client or not, is welcome to pay it forward. I will proactively work with peers in trusted organisations to get this subsidised support out - please do not approach me directly as I don’t have the capacity to run my practice whilst receiving multiple requests.

If you would like to contribute to Solidarity Ceremonies, please get in touch.

To depict the meaning of solidarity, the image shows a triangle road with the word solidary written on it. The image on the sign shows one stick person holding a large umbrella, under which several more stick people stand.
The wicker coffin has several jam jars of bright fresh flowers adorning the coffin lid. The coffin is placed on a wooden caterfalque outside suggesting an outdoor ceremony and natural burial. Thank you Dead Good for the image.

Promoting Funeral Choices

There is a shortage of information on funeral choices presented solely in the best interests of people, families and communities. I commit to promoting genuine funeral choice through partnership work, community engagement, and providing information to the public. I will focus on three main goals:

  1. Information on funeral choices that help alleviate poverty, such as do-it-yourself funerals and low-cost coffins.

  2. Information on funeral choices that reduce the cost to the earth, such as natural burial.

  3. Information encouraging people to choose the arrangements they want after death and make a plan to have their wishes realised.

I am keen to collaborate with people with similar goals and good values. If you are an interested community worker, health worker, or practitioner associated with death and dying, I would love to hear from you. I would be particularly keen to speak with community groups about the importance of planning ahead - do please get in touch.

Further Information and Support

Coming soon