Admin News

Andrew Patey
Council were sorry to receive the resignation of Andrew Patey. Andrew was our FD representative on Council and devoted a great deal of time, energy and original thought to its workings. The pace of Andrew's FD work has been relentless and it was with great regret that he shed this part of his workload. I am sure you will all join with Council in wishing him well and we all look forward to seeing him 'on the circuit'.
 

Public Liability Insurance
You may have seen articles in the trade press this week about our insurance cover. I am hoping the main policy document will be available to you in electronic form, but your all-important certificate of cover will be forward to you by post in the next couple of weeks. Please make sure your FDs are aware of this new development - it may just be the tipping point between the amateur and the professional.
 

National Funeral Exhibition 2013
The National Funeral Exhibition is fast looming into view (Friday 7th June to Sunday 9th June). The IoCF stand will be manned for all three days and Karen Hopkins (karenhopkins@blueyonder.co.uk) has the rota. A few people have already kindly offered to help out - there is room for more!
 

Questionnaire returns
Please remember that we are now going all out to encourage clients to accept our quality of service questionnaire by e-mail. You might be surprised how much money this will save you, the members, in the long run. Please do remember to insert the client's e-mail on the Booking Form. The postal address can be left out.
 

Videoing ceremonies
We have had enquiries from members concerning being filmed and videoed whilst performing ceremonies. Jeff Baker did some extensive research on this and the policy agreed by IoCF Council will appear on the website in the Resources area.
 

A New Outfit in Town
You will doubtless have seen and heard of a new outfit rearing its head in the celebrancy world - 'The Association of Registered Celebrants'. They aim to become the regulatory body for all celebrants in the UK. Whilst I think we would all wish to see a raising of standards, it is difficult to see how this new venture would achieve that given that we are not sure of their own credentials to sit in judgement in the first place. Council have taken the conscious decision to ignore any approaches and maintain the status quo.
 

Training dates

Course Title: Date: Venue: Cost:

Child and Baby Funerals Wednesday 26th June 2013 6 Nene Road, Kimbolton, Cambs. £175 + VAT

A one day, externally accredited course. Fees include OCN Assessment, registration and certification. Refreshments, lunch and course materials are provided for all training.

To reserve a place call Civil Ceremonies on: 0845 0048608 (local rate) or 01480 861449. You can also email at info@civilceremonies.co.uk
 

Website News

Mini-websites for members
Mini-websites were something many of you wanted. These are now available. There has been a poor take up thus far, but we feel in Council that this was maybe due to our poor publicity. Here is the rectification: contact Barbara@iocf.org.uk and she will tell you exactly what you have to do!

Mini-websites and email addresses are now available to full members. Jill and Peter now have sites set up - their sites are linked to from their entry on the map.

A mini-website is available at a one off fee of £30.
An email address is available for an annual payment of £5.

To set up a mini-website you will need to provide Barbara with the following:

• A maximum of 600 words describing your services/approach
• Area covered (this should be the same as on the map - this might be an opportunity to check and update your details if necessary)
• Your contact details - phone, email, times (again, this should match details given on the map)
• A photo (maximum of 800 pixels square at 300 dpi - which means any digital image with the picture quality set as high as possible)

 
Conference News

IoCF Conference 1st to 3rd November.

Please do mark this date in your diary and make a strenuous effort to attend. I get to read a huge load of feedback forms and I know that our celebrants are doing an exceptional job but - there is always the capacity to learn from our peers and see and comment on new ideas. Just chatting to other in the same boat teaches us a lot.

The AGM will be combined with Conference again on the Saturday. This is your chance to have your say. I have firmly announced my intention to step down from Council at the AGM. I will (by design) be doing fewer funerals after 1st May and I am trying to cut down on my workload in general. Being on Council and being Chairman since 2010 has not been over-arduous, but I do feel the time has come for a break and for a fresh pair of hands to grasp the tiller. I will be remaining as a member of the IoCF for the foreseeable future.
 

 
Database Statistics

Here are the stats for February 2013.

Total number of booking forms logged: 510

The figures may yet prove me wrong, but I am the only one who has detected an upsurge in work in my area in the month of April. Every celebrant I bump into has gone way beyond what they would expect for the month. If it is a trend, long may it continue!

 
2013 Diary Dates

 
Member in Focus

Richard Coghlan Having been a funeral director for over 35 years, and seeing the decline of wishes for religious funerals and Church services, I decided to become a trained Civil Funeral Celebrant, and have now taken over 200 Civil Funerals. I find peoples life stories fascinating, and always try to vary the service to make it personal to that person, ie: readings and music and sometimes 'photos on screen during the reflective music, all depending on what the family wish. However, being a Christian and Church Youth Leader, I do find it very sad that the church has failed many people and will only take services with prayers and bible readings, which can be very limiting in variety. I never force my Christian beliefs on families, as this is a personal time for them and they should have the funeral service they wish for.

I have had to write up funeral services in some strange places, as often at the weekends (when not on call) I help with Scouts and Duke of Edinbugh Awards (DofE), so I am often away in the mountains. On one occasion I was in the Scottish Highlands back-packing and camping, with a DofE College group miles away from civilization, but with the advent of the ipad I was able to type up the Civil Funeral and when I came into phone reception I sent the service to my secretary for proof reading, as being Dyslexic this is vital. And she was able to send it to the family for verification. Also whilst in Libya helping to repatriate 101 souls back to their various countries after a plane crash, I was able to continue to write services. Times have changed a lot in 35 years, but the great thing about Civil Funerals is that it gives people the choice to have exactly what they want. I wonder what changes my son Dan (6th generation of the family firm) will see in the next 35 years?

 
And finally ...

We welcome Meg Carter, Kim Finlayson and Chris Price who have recently joined the Institute.

And congratulations to Trish Empson, Richard Coghlan, Annie Wellings, Mavis Eastaugh, Chris Ley, Vikki McKeegan, Rob Rowe, Joe Donovan, Jean Martindale, Lawrence Jacobs, Geoff Wood, Shirley Carpenter, Paddy Hall, Sarah Willis and Karen Hopkins who have all passed another milestone in their work (ranging from 100 to 1500 funerals)!
 

And thank you for reading
Peter McNulty