Off topic - what a rip-off!

Hi T. I have had to arrange funerals in the past 2 years for close family and I know how difficult and expensive it is in normal circumstances. It must be really hard for you not to have the arrangements you wanted. Thinking of you and your family. Best wishes.

My ex wife died 4 years ago, she wanted no funeral and no fuss. We sent her off to a crem in Worcestershire and my middle daughter collected the bag of ashes. That cost £900.

Prior to that, my Mum popped off and her requested funeral cost £7.5k!

Both of them had their ashes scattered to the four winds. I've asked the current Mrs CB to not bother with a funeral and chuck my ashes in the river. We have an undertaker live 3 doors down, he's made a mint lately.

CB.

Neither of my in-laws had a funeral. Just basic coffin, cremation with no service. Can't recall how much that was. Family had a gathering at home & drank a toast instead. We'd probably have done something like that if it weren't for covid. Cheapest perhaps is donating your body for medical science - but I don't think you can do that at the moment.

I did a reading at my mom’s funeral & played a song from my phone, much to the disgust of the Adams part of the family.  

I’ve donated my body to medical science, providing I die Mon-Fi within office hours I should be OK. 

I definitely want an immediate cremation and ashes thrown to winds on the moor. No cars, no undertakers, no service in crematorium. If my daughter wants a gathering that’s for her to decide and arrange. I don’t think I’ll be worrying about it. But spending thousands on a funeral would have me turning in my grave if I had one

Totally agree Mr W and I have  it written into our wills Cremation  no service ashes  in the bin. 

Goodness, I hadn’t realised funerals were so expensive. The last funeral I had to organise was my mum’s which was 29 years ago. I think the bill then was about £1000 which I suppose on reflection was expensive at the time.

A friend died at the end of May and she had the main part of her funeral service in her garden. There was music and the vicar did the eulogy and blessing and as it was a big garden we were able to be there and keep the required two metres apart; it was lovely.

Afterwards 10 family members went to the Crematorium for the final bit.

It’s not an easy time for you Teasswill, I do hope you can get what you want for your mum’s service.

Love Luce x

Each to their own. Mr D and I some years ago, me always being very keen on factory and behind-the-scenes visits, were reading the local Sunday paper. [now itself late lamented..] "Oooh look," says I, "the Crem are having an open day this afternoon, let's go."  We did. Fascinating, but what most impressed us was the dire cost to the environment of using such vast amounts of fossil fuel to reduce the corpses to something more visually palatable, while emitting some very nasty chemical fumes despite modern attempts to contain and recover eg toxic mercury vapour from all the dental amalgam. So we have told the daughters, have us green burial'ed and apart from that it's you that need closure so have whatever service best does that for you, no point us prescribing hymns when according to our beliefs we'll be in a much better place by then.

We had been for donating bodies for medical school but daughter who in getting trained in dentistry did the first year of dissection very similarly from the waist up, said she couldn't cope with the thought after what she had seen. No point upsetting her so backed off.

And ashes in our family have proved problematic. Both in-laws are scattered in Epping Forest where they used to walk, pub lunch after, no problemo. But the executor sister of us three has hung on to our Mum's since 2014 and resisted suggestions from the eldest about scattering  them, won't talk about it. So eldest and I have given up raising the subject...

Best funerals we have seen are trad New Orleans jazz ones, way to go says I.

Denby

25 years ago we scattered the ashes of my closest friend on Hampstead Heath. Totally illegal I believe and the wind blew them back into our faces. I'll be warning my daughter about this possibility. Might leave a wind sock to her in my will. 

I fancy a woodland burial - seems the greenest. But they are expensive! I had to persist to get the pretty willow coffin we wanted. At least all the costs will come out of the estate.

It's certainly something worth thinking about & making one's wishes known, like making a will & setting up LPA.