The sadness of grief touches our lives in deep and profound ways and for many arranging a funeral for someone we love but see no longer is one of the most intense and yet fulfilling things we can do as a sign of love and friendship.

If you don’t know the clergy here, the Funeral Director is usually the one who will put you in touch. But if you want to let us know first then please telephone the Parish Office on 01462 743922 or email on office@stmarysashwell.org.uk.

In an emergency, out of office hours please ring:

The Rectory on 01462 742277 ,

Mark Eaton on 01462 743751

or

Revd Canon Lindsay Dew on 01462 742165 or 07545878082

Chris, Mark and Lindsay will help all they can.

The Rector will conduct a service either in church or at a crematorium or both, and will help to plan the service with you to include hymns, readings as well as to lead and speak on your behalf in the service. You can choose to have others to speak or read a poem during the service too.

‘Every life is precious to God. Christians have always believed that there is hope in death as in life, and that there is new life in Christ after death. Even those who share such faith find that there is a real sense of loss at the death of a loved one. We will each have had our own experiences of their life and death, with different memories and different feelings of love, grief and respect. To acknowledge this at the beginning of the service should help us to use this occasion to express our faith and our feelings as we say farewell, to acknowledge our loss and our sorrow, and to reflect on our own mortality.’