Funeral Support Services

I cannot recommend Claire highly enough. When someone close to us dies, it can feel overwhelming or strangely calming, or anything in between. My father died in hospital and I was fortunate enough to be with him. None of the rest of my family could make it and I was on my own, answering questions from medical professionals, making decisions and trying to comfort him and say goodbye all at the same time. It felt like a trip into another world and I will never forget how Claire guided me through. She helped me focus on what was important rather than what was urgent. As a direct result of her advice and guidance over the phone at that time, I had the clarity and confidence to spend the last hour holding my father's hand, skin to skin, no gloves, talking to him as he died. Without her, I might easily have made the mistake of spending that last hour holding back in a state of confusion. Her compassion, experience and skill was enormously helpful.

In the days that followed, she continued to listen to me and my family and support us as we made arrangements for his funeral and cremation. She helped us find our way so that we were able to say our goodbyes and give him a send off that felt authentic, loving and meaningful. We all thoroughly appreciated her steady and calm communication and felt huge relief that, with her guidance, the whole experience felt appropriate to who my father was and how our lives had been impacted by him.

Bridget Dare

We wanted a small intimate funeral for my aunt, we needed our frail and elderly relatives to be comfortable and fully involved.Claire listened carefully as I talked about my aunt, our family and the challenges we faced. Thanks to her collaborative approach and vast experience, together, we planned a service that was just right and held it at my mother’s home. Twelve friends and family attended. The way Claire greeted the guests and lead the ceremony put us all at ease and enabled us to contribute memories in a relaxed and natural way. It couldn’t have been better, her experience and professionalism gave me complete confidence while her care and sensitivity was extremely reassuring. We were so grateful and I can’t recommend her highly enough.

Susie Nicholls

When my Mum died from alzheimers, finding myself in the sad space of needing funeral support, I made the wise decision to call Claire Callender. Her response was immediate, gentle and she provided my family and I with solid support in a time of freefalling emotions. Claire has a quiet professional approach and is deeply compassionate in her manner. I felt heard in my every wish and was guided gently when I didn't know what to do. My family and I could not have wished for more at a difficult time and I strongly recommend the service and care that Claire can provide.

Georgi Gilpin

Whilst I was in a familiar town, my birth town, when my ninety-five year old father died I was not
at home so I lacked local knowledge and contacts. My siblings were happy for me to take the
reins but I struggled to know how to access the support I knew I needed.
However, I made one phone call and reached a bastion of sanity, kindness and care in Claire.
Firstly, she helped me decide which of the local undertakers to entrust to look after my dad. Then
she supported me to communicate to them both what I needed and what I didn’t need from them.
She provided valuable practical guidance and information on such necessary items as coffins.
She knows the trade of undertaking inside out – the wrinkles the mark-ups and all of that stuff
and I am not one for plastic flowers and convention.
I knew what I didn’t want. I didn’t want the strange, fake Victoriana of top hats and tailcoats nor to
be sold coffins or car-rides with crazy markups. I certainly didn’t want people I didn’t know to
carry my father into the crematorium nor to talk about him as if they knew who he was. I didn’t
want to deal with conventional ideas around what should happen or not happen. I wanted to do
this my way.
Given my father’s age, I was taken by surprise by how hard hit I was by the complex emotions of
grief and Claire’s calm and kind presence on the end of the phone fielded all of that including my
reactions to the, possibly inevitable, family differences of opinion that played out. We spoke a
number of times leading up to the funeral and she both supported me and empowered me. She
was genuinely interested in understanding who my father was and thus how to support me to put
in place what made sense for him and for us.
Claire has the rare ability to meet both life and death with deep empathy as well as a gentle
lightness of spirit. She provided me with invaluable support practically and emotionally to create
a personally meaningful process for my father, for me and for his family and friends, throughout
this final part of his story. I am deeply grateful for that.

Davina Robertson

There’s no script when a loved one becomes ill. There’s no script when they die. And there’s definitely no script when you are faced with the prospect of a funeral. We asked Claire to guide us so the family gathered around a zoom, where she explained how it all works; to take our time; what to disregard; where to stand our ground; above all, to make our funeral truly ‘ours’. We weren’t pressured into making decisions. My mum said she actually felt better after the funeral, that we’d done it right. There was laughter. It felt authentic. Claire will forever have a special place in our hearts for holding our grief and confusion and expertly guiding us through the most difficult decisions at the worst time of our lives. Because of Claire’s expertise we felt lighter and happier. Most importantly, we had no regrets. Use Claire if you need help. You won’t always get a script but you can have someone hold your metaphorical hand through the process.

Billie Bluglass

Testimonials