My Story

After training for three years in classical theatre and acting in London, I spent my early working career performing on London’s West End stage and in the television and film industry. Settling in Sonning in Berkshire with my husband, I owned and ran for 8 years an award winning franchised Stagecoach theatre arts school, where the emphasis to my 200 pupils was to teach them the confidence and skills they need for life through the theatre arts. At the same time I taught and coached vocal and presentational skills to business people with clients from Microsoft, 3M to The Ambulance Service. 

20 years ago a very dear and close friend died unexpectedly, his wife wished that a celebrant took the funeral service to celebrate her husband’s life and help her and the family come to terms with his sudden death. Unfortunately, there were no celebrants available to help. As someone with presentation skill experience who had a close relationship with the deceased, the family asked me to conduct the ceremony. With the help and guidance from Holmes & Daughters Funeral Directors in Richmond I under took this task, after which, I felt a compelling desire to find out more about funeral celebrant work, having seen for myself the merits of such a personally dedicated and bespoke funeral ceremony to my friends family at the most difficult of times.

I spent 12 months researching, with the help of various members of the funeral profession. I applied and was accepted to a 12 month accredited celebrant training with ‘The British Humanist Association’ in London. I successfully passed out of the course receiving my Accreditation in 2005.

For the past 20 years I have been privileged to work full-time as a Funeral and Wedding Celebrant with many clients through recommendations of my local funeral directors in the Berkshire and Oxfordshire area. Working with them with empathy and listening carefully to their wishes and when needed, guiding them gently as they make lasting and helpful choices to honour those whom they have lost. I have enabled the bereaved to have a unique funeral ceremony to celebrate their loved ones lives, and say farewell in the most fitting way possible. 

I decided to become an ‘Independent Funeral and Wedding Celebrant,’ as my ethos has always been to serve the next of kin of the deceased and honour their wishes as I did all those years ago for my friend instead of an organised body or organisation. In many cases I often carry out the wishes of the deceased themselves after a pre-arranged ceremony meeting. Put simply I am a celebrant who listens, and will create a bespoke funeral ceremony for the uniqueness of the life that has been. At times this has included hymns, prayers or spiritual readings from various faiths or Humanist teaching and at other times no religious or spiritual content at all. Whether it is an intricate ceremony or very simple ceremony, one thing is certain, the content and choices are not governed by my or any organised beliefs, but by the fact we are all different and deserve to mark a life that has ended in our own way. 

My husband and I moved to Hayling Island in the late autumn of 2016, and we are thoroughly enjoying island coastal life with our two Cocker Spaniels Bob & Dylan. 

I am delighted that I have been able to carry on my work as Funeral Celebrant in Hampshire and the surrounding areas working with local funeral directors who feel I am the right fit for their clients. Most notable I have been delighted to work with Hayling Island’s only family owned and run business ; Grady’s Family Funeral Directors ,with the sixth generation guiding the business forward, embracing the personal wishes of their clients. Grady’s encompass delivering elaborate and bespoke services following tradition to offering the newly popular, Just Cremation service , with the advantage of being able to hold Funeral services and /or Memorial services on the Island in their own 60 seat garden chapel, which has been a pleasure to work in , enabling my ethics of an unhurried personal service to work hand in hand with their exacting high standards and experienced professional approach. 

Through my Funeral Celebrant work I have been approached over the years from families who felt comfortable to return to me for happier occasions as a Celebrant to conduct Weddings and Naming Ceremony’s, which has been such a privilege. I now have a thriving Wedding Celebrant business working with many local individual venues, to provide a truly bespoke and unique Wedding service, and I also am happy to travel to any venue or area to help a couple mark their special day. 

If you have any questions or queries about my work please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.