July 2014

 
Welcome to the latest edition of the Institute Update

A very warm welcome to our newest members: Julie Wakefield, Katy Carmichael and Richard Wiseman.
 

Party time!

The countdown to our 10th anniversary celebration has begun: only two weeks to go until our party on Saturday 19th July at the Claret Centre, Buckden.

The council are looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible who are able to join us for a day of enjoyment and enlightenment! Yes, there will be balloons, cake, fizz and 'party bags'. There will also be three workshops, the focus of which, this time, is you - the celebrant. There will be tips to help you to run your business more efficiently and, just as importantly, take care of yourself. We hope that you will all be able to contribute your suggestions for ways to make our working lives less stressful.

Feedback from our last Best Practice day indicated that, as ever, you would like more time to meet and chat with the other members, so we have ensured that there will be plenty of opportunity for this during the day and afterwards, as we hope that many of you will be able to stay on and join us for an informal meal in the evening at the Red Lion in Buckden.

If you haven't already booked the day, please remember that we need you to do so by tomorrow - Friday 4th July. Details of how to book, along with information about the meal and accommodation, can be found in separate updates, in the Members' Area of the website or by contacting Barbara.

Our summer of celebration will close with our annual Conference and AGM, to be held Hillscourt Conference Centre, Rednal, Birmingham from Friday 31st October to Sunday 2nd November. Look out for your invitation to the conference which should be sent out to you in August. However, here is advance notice (warning?) that, as the Friday evening social event will be on Hallowe'en, you will be invited to join us in fancy dress ... there will be prizes!

The council are working hard to make these events a success. The members of the IoCF have much to celebrate in recognising how the standard of funeral ceremonies which they provide has helped to change the face of the profession over the past decade. However, the celebrations are not just about us giving ourselves a big 'pat on the back'. The council's marketing campaign for this year is centred around using the photos and reports of our celebration to raise the profile of the IoCF throughout the industry and to the wider public. Therefore, we will be providing every member with resources (and gifts!) at our Best Practice day and afterwards to help you promote the IoCF in your area and, of course, in turn, your own business.

The council recognise that our supporting role for our members is to promote the Institute in general to ensure that funeral directors everywhere use our members first and foremost when arranging a civil funeral. Some of you may already be aware that in some areas the funeral arrangers who are part of the Dignity group have been instructed to check the training and accreditation of the celebrants they engage; as has been the case with some of the Co-operative regions. This must be an increasing trend and IoCF members will stand out as having the highest qualifications to meet any criteria set and will become 'the celebrant of choice'. So do use our promotional materials to make sure that all funeral arrangers in your area know about you ... even if you have to sing 'Happy Birthday to us' to every one of them!!

Enjoy the party.
Christine Ogden
 

 
Admin News

Quilt Raffle
The office will be closed on Wednesday 23rd July as Barbara will be 'manning' the IoCF stand with Christine Ogden at the launch of the Children's Funeral Charity at the National Memorial Arboretum. As part of the event Barbara will be raffling a quilt to raise funds for the charity.

If you are unable to attend the Best Practice Day or the Charity's launch and would like to take part and help raise funds please send a pledge (cash or cheques - made payable to Barbara Pearce) to the IoCF office and raffle tickets will be purchased in your name on the day.
 

ID Cards
Quite a number of members still have not applied for their free ID card - some members have already been asked to produce them in the course of their work.

If you haven't yet supplied Viv with your photo (jpg.file of head and shoulder photo), membership number and how you would like your name to appear on the card, please send these to her at viv.oneill@btinternet.com.
 

SAIF membership changes
SAIF has recently reviewed its membership and procedures. IoCF still continues to hold Associate SAIF membership, however, the big change is that membership is no longer extended to our individual members. Any IoCF member wishing to belong to the SAIF must now apply to join in their own right.

If you currently display the SAIF logo through IoCF membership please ensure you remove the logo from your literature.

IoCF members are still extremely welcome to attend SAIF Regional Meetings as IoCF representatives - our members have always been made very welcome at these meetings.
 

IoCF Stationery
To order any IoCF stationery, simply contact Barbara (barbara@iocf.org.uk).

Overprinted leaflets - 12p each
Business cards - a sliding scale dependent upon quantity
Headed Paper (50 sheets) - £6
Compliment Slips (50 slips) - £6
Zipped Writing Case - £20
Presentation Folder - £10

 

Website News

The Forum

There has been some discussion amongst the members about sharing thoughts and experiences about their work via a 'blog' and so just another reminder that the forum on our website is there for members to use as they wish: to share news of local funeral events, regional meetings etc; to ask for help and ideas when preparing for a funeral service; to 'off-load' to people who understand the anxieties and vagaries of our work ... just simply to chat with other members.

If you are having difficulty accessing the members' area on the website or the forum, here are a few points which might help:

• If you have lost your usernames and passwords (different for each area), contact Barbara (Barbara@iocf.org.uk) who will arrange for them to be sent out again to you.
• Log-in to both pages and tick the 'remember me' box so that you will not have to remember your password etc again.
• After that, when you log-in to the forum, even though the 'sign in' window appears you can ignore that by clicking straight on the 'home' tab - top left of page - and you will be straight into the home page of the forum.

 
Database Statistics

Here are the stats for April 2014.

Total number of booking forms logged: 513

 
2014 Diary Dates

 
And Finally ...

Congratulations to the following members who have reached another milestone in their work: Faith Oxford, Julia Anderson, Chris Howe, Jenny Gibbs, Tim Turner, Sally Randell, Victoria McKeegan and Margaret Price.
 

And thank you for reading.
Barbara