We've just been to a ...
Posted: 21 Oct 2013, 14:32...Humanist woodland burial !
All very interesting. It was an acquaintance of Mrs O who passed on after a short illness; she was in her 80's I believe. The O acted as courier for Mrs O and a friend.
The gathering was at a private cemetery on the outskirts of Lichfield, a very nice location, basically an open field next to a nature reserve, with plots for woodland-style burials, ordinary interments, and an area for the scattering of ashes. Each woodland "plot" seemed to be accompanied by a simple black marker post, with plates giving names and years, i.e. "Sam Smith 1932-2013", and a small sapling (a rowan, I believe); there appeared to be about 4 graves to a plot.
Although there was a small building (definitely not a chapel!), the ceremony was conducted outside, around the grave plot, in the pouring rain. The "service" was conducted by a British Humanist Association accredited lady, and she spoke for about 20 minutes, including a resume of the life history of the deceased. Initially, this was to the accompaniment of tinkly music from a small ghetto-blaster perched on a neighbouring grave marker; however, the rain-lashed equipment gave up the ghost about half-way through .... No dressing up, friends and family seemed mostly to be in ordinary clothing, including red wellies, anoraks and a bobble hat. You'd be forgiven for thinking it was a little bit disorganised, as there were no notices up or service sheets or anything of that ilk which you'd normally associate with a church or crem funeral - it was all very "understated" - but none the worse for that.
Once the coffin had been lowered by family pall-bearers, the BMA lady brought round a box of soil and a box of paper-mache flowers / leaves (like a pot-pourri) for folk to toss into the grave. The coffin was said to be a cardboard one, well, you could have fooled me, it looked very much like the real thing, grained wood finish.
Thinking about it afterwards, it was quite an attractive way to be "sent off" - just a shame about the weather.
All very interesting. It was an acquaintance of Mrs O who passed on after a short illness; she was in her 80's I believe. The O acted as courier for Mrs O and a friend.
The gathering was at a private cemetery on the outskirts of Lichfield, a very nice location, basically an open field next to a nature reserve, with plots for woodland-style burials, ordinary interments, and an area for the scattering of ashes. Each woodland "plot" seemed to be accompanied by a simple black marker post, with plates giving names and years, i.e. "Sam Smith 1932-2013", and a small sapling (a rowan, I believe); there appeared to be about 4 graves to a plot.
Although there was a small building (definitely not a chapel!), the ceremony was conducted outside, around the grave plot, in the pouring rain. The "service" was conducted by a British Humanist Association accredited lady, and she spoke for about 20 minutes, including a resume of the life history of the deceased. Initially, this was to the accompaniment of tinkly music from a small ghetto-blaster perched on a neighbouring grave marker; however, the rain-lashed equipment gave up the ghost about half-way through .... No dressing up, friends and family seemed mostly to be in ordinary clothing, including red wellies, anoraks and a bobble hat. You'd be forgiven for thinking it was a little bit disorganised, as there were no notices up or service sheets or anything of that ilk which you'd normally associate with a church or crem funeral - it was all very "understated" - but none the worse for that.
Once the coffin had been lowered by family pall-bearers, the BMA lady brought round a box of soil and a box of paper-mache flowers / leaves (like a pot-pourri) for folk to toss into the grave. The coffin was said to be a cardboard one, well, you could have fooled me, it looked very much like the real thing, grained wood finish.
Thinking about it afterwards, it was quite an attractive way to be "sent off" - just a shame about the weather.
