What they do
Most funerals are conducted by a minister or celebrant. They typically help organise and lead the service, addressing the congregation and providing a eulogy for your loved one should you wish. They work closely with both us, and those planning the funeral. Whether you would like a religious minister, a civil celebrant or a humanist to lead the ceremony, we will use our expertise to try to best match the officiant to the family based upon our discussions with you.
Below are some of the celebrants who we work with regularly that we feel share similar work ethics and believe are as dedicated to our families at their time of need as we are.
Teresa Bovingdon
My passion is to bring joy and comfort to everyone I meet as I travel through life. I deem it a great privilege to be a small part of a person’s journey. I have 40+ years of experience, helping and caring for others in a variety of roles including Celebrancy, the front line of the ambulance service, as a therapist, a support worker for people living with disability and volunteering for Girlguiding. As a professional celebrant I will gently and respectfully guide you at your own pace to capture the essence of your loved one and honour the life they lived and loved. I will carefully listen to the highs, lows and all those special moments that linger in your heart, then weave them all into a beautiful reflection of the person you loved so dearly.
Steve Emmett FRSA
Steve is a Humanist Celebrant and is trained, accredited and insured by Humanists UK. What’s a humanist funeral? It celebrates a life in a deeply personal way, the most meaningful kind of ceremony you can choose for someone who was not religious. What’s in a humanist funeral? Anything you like except religion. If you would like support to create the right celebration of your loved one’s life, Steve will be delighted to help. “I can’t explain how it works,” he says, “but somehow, I have this facility with words that helps me strike the right tone with both respect and, where appropriate, humour.”
Louisa Starr
My name is Louisa Starr and I am an Independent Celebrant. I specialise in creating and delivering personalised Celebration of Life Ceremonies and Alternative Funerals in Yorkshire. Everybody is different hence every funeral ceremony I create is different! Each life is unique hence every script that I create is unique and no standard cut and paste script is ever used. I specialise in creating a funeral ceremony focusing on the person whose life is being celebrated. Let’s talk about the person! Let’s celebrate their life, their character, their personality! As a Yorkshire Funeral Celebrant, I deliver REAL Ceremonies for REAL people!
Anna Wallace
As a funeral celebrant, I know that arranging a funeral is one of the most stressful things you will ever do. Whilst experiencing the pain of losing a loved one, you will need to make choices and decisions within a short time that you hope best reflects the wishes of the person you have lost. I will hold your hand as I guide and support you through this difficult time. When you don’t know what you want to say, I will help you find the words. Together we will create a bespoke, sincere, and heartfelt service filled with love, respect, and gratitude for the one you have lost. I will meet you wherever and whenever it is convenient for you to begin the process of creating a lasting tribute. I will encourage you to recall your most precious memories of your loved one’s life before crafting and delivering this unique funeral service. We will work together every step of the way.
Robin Lockwood
Celebrating both Religious and Civil Services. “A funeral Service is not a day in a lifetime, it’s a lifetime in a day” Whatever way you wish to commemorate and celebrate the life of a loved one, I am here to work with you in creating a meaningful, special, appropriate, and dignified service. I live in York and have been a member of the Church of England for many years, and although I celebrate Christian funerals, I mostly celebrate part and non-religious services. It is a privilege to honour both the wishes of the deceased and their families.
Fiona Brown
Nothing can ever really prepare you for when a loved one passes. I know that this is a difficult time for you and I will do all I can to support and comfort you as we work together to remember who your loved one was, at their final farewell. As a National Celebrant Award Winner, and a funeral celebrant of many years’ experience, I deliver the ceremony with warmth, empathy and sincerity, bringing colour to the words and the memories to life. As part of my service to you, if you wish me to do so, I create a memory keepsake from the life story part of the script, featuring photographs of your loved one. Finally, I know that the first year can be an emotional one, so I keep in touch, sending an email or card on hotspot anniversaries, like your loved one’s birthday and Christmas. I also run a bereavement cafe once a month during term time at The Yorkshire Barn in Murton Park. I specialise in heartfelt ceremonies, with light-hearted moments, the personal touch, celebrating the life of the one you loved so much.
Richard Battersby
With years of experience in supporting families and friends in saying farewell. I listen, gently guide, serve and care for you as we create a memorable and special way of saying goodbye. I am an ordained priest (free of church and parish duties) equally comfortable in delivering religious and non-religious services, ensuring that each service perfectly suits you and your loved one. I am passionate that we say goodbye in the right way, to celebrate, remember and support one another in the safety of the love that surrounds us all. Recently I was delighted to receive the following comments … “You were a star … she would have approved (high praise indeed!) … a perfect balance and offered us all a moment to reflect on our relationship we shared with her and to give thanks for the part she played … her farewell was just as she would have wanted … it was a pleasure to have you to be part of the thanksgiving service”
Nicholas Boole
My role as a professional independent civil celebrant is to help you design a ceremony that honours the life of your loved one by illustrating the ways they enriched the lives of everyone they met. Having travelled the world in HM Forces and since then conducting ceremonies that celebrated other people’s lives, I know how emotionally intense this period can be. Sometimes a ceremony might be punctuated with tears and reflective silence as well as smiles and laughter. Or images, music and poetry might be used to explain the void left by your loss. Remember, it doesn’t matter how long or short a life has been, or whether it was widely celebrated or lived humbly and modestly; everyone’s story matters. However you wish to make the occasion special will be right, and it is my role and privilege to support, guide and lead you in that journey. Thank you.