Ditch the hearse, bring the kids, have a picnic: an alternative undertaker’s tips for a better funeral

[Oldgreybeard]

Thanks OGB, it was a very sad but satisfactory day, and a fitting way to say goodbye with a real sense of closure.
Constance booked and paid for the plot three years ago when we buried Penny, Mrs Desps sister, as it seemed such a perfect and environmentally friendly way to shuffle off this coil. Then all we had to do was arrange the undertakers to collect the body from our house, store it for a while and then deliver her to Sunrising this afternoon at 2pm. no problem with any other formalities at all.

We lifted the coffin from the hearse onto a bere, a small 4 wheel cart, trundled her up to a pavillion where we read various poems and eulogies, then took her to the grave and lowered her in and then backfilled it.

Strange as it seems a DIY burial is very comforting and appropriate somehow and knowing we are personally and hands on carrying out the last wishes seem to provide real closure.

Desp

Sounds a bit like my uncle's funeral a few years ago. I arrived at the church a wee bit late, at the same time as my cousin, who drove up in the farm pickup truck (uncle was a farmer). There was a tarp over the back of the pickup and my cousin collared me as he was removing the tarp, saying "Can you give me a hand to get dad out of the back?" An ad hoc bearer party was gathered to carry him from the back of the pick up to the church, and then out to his burial plot, overlooking the valley he'd farmed all his life. All very informal, no one wearing suits or ties, with everyone retiring to the pub my uncle had drunk in all his life. One of the most memorably wonderful funerals I've ever been to.