Rites of Passage

Can you imagine attending your own funeral? The old joke is that it’s the best party you’ll never go to, but that may no longer be true.Last year, in his Channel 4 series Grayson Perry helped to create a ‘living funeral’ for Roch, a man who’d been living with Motor Neurone disease, and it was … Continue Reading

Read All About it!

I really love it when people tell me they love my book, WE DO! This photo was sent to me by Sarah, whose wedding I conducted last week: I think you can see she thought it had lots of useful ideas, so I can’t wait to give my first ever public talk about it. The idea was the … Continue Reading

Will you have a cup of tea, father?

I was a big fan of Father Ted – and not just because Father Dougal and I share a surname. A bit further down the billing but no less important to the show’s success was Mrs. Doyle, housekeeper of Craggy Island Parochial House, played by the brilliant Pauline McLynn. Her catch phrase invariably comes to my mind when someone offers … Continue Reading

A Greener Way to Go

I was delighted to see this article in today’s Guardian, not least because it prompted me to visit my archives, where I found this piece I wrote about resomation for Humanitie Magazine in 2010.  When a body is buried in shallow soil, one of the principal biochemical aspects of natural decomposition is alkaline hydrolysis carried … Continue Reading