May 2014

 
Welcome to the latest edition of the Institute Update

And a very warm welcome to our newest members: Nicki Hallet, Amanda Grant, Stephen Latchford, Christine Vaughan, Rebecca Waldron, Catherine Holtom, Carol Bundock. Christine Rose and Sharon Rushworth.
 

The Institute of Civil Funerals is 10 years old in July.

The IoCF has come a long way since it was founded by Anne Barber and Marilyn Watts in 2004. Instigated as an association for independent funeral celebrants, to be managed by practicing members, their initial challenge was a big one: to enlist those celebrants who would bring their passion for high standards in civil funeral ceremonies to help to manage the Institute and promote and deliver quality services throughout the country.

With the support from representatives from established professional associations and tutors, Anne and Marilyn's dream became reality...and the IoCF has grown in member numbers, administrative efficiency and quality assessment to reach the position of respect within the profession which it enjoys today.

The three main premises on which the IoCF was founded still apply and are as important as ever: quality through feedback and assessment; an umbrella organisation to provide support and networking opportunities for self-employed celebrants and to inform funeral arrangers about the work of Civil Celebrants.

So there is much to celebrate this year and the council of management are working hard on a PR campaign to run through the summer months and up to our annual conference at the end of October. The Institute will use our special anniversary logo on all our documents and the logo is available to all full members on the resources page of the Members' Area of the website. Do use the logo on your stationery, scripts and letterheads to show that you are part of the celebrations of a well-established organisation. You will also shortly receive resources and marketing materials to distribute amongst all the funeral directors in your area, informing them of the anniversary and the work of our members.

Also do note the date of our Best Practice Day on Saturday, 19th July which will be a combination of the usual informative workshops and our birthday party - see below for more details.

The Institute membership really is growing and, hopefully, you are finding that you are not the only IoCF member in your area. Do make contact with other members, both established and newly trained (their details will be on the 'find a celebrant' page on the website or use the forum). Not only will this provide great networking opportunities but also ensure that the funeral arrangers can guarantee an IoCF member if you pass on each other's details to your funeral directors. A good solid 'block' of IoCF members will really help to get our ceremonies known and recognised in comparison with any non-accredited celebrants which will mean increased business for you. There really is enough work out there for many members in one area - and a combined sales campaign will reduce the work for each individual.

If you are out there 'on your own' but know of other celebrants who are not members of the Institute and yet are providing an excellent service (and there are many of them), why not approach them and 'sell' the benefits of being a member of the IoCF. They can contact Barbara Pearce to find out how, as an already experienced celebrant, they too can join the Institute.
 

Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin
At the request of several members, the council discussed the merits of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin accounts, at our last meeting. All were agreed that Facebook and Twitter are social media sites and therefore should be used for that purpose rather than for postings and blogs connected with our profession. Linkedin is promoted as a business networking site and some members may find it useful to raise the profile of their work, however, Barbara would prefer not to receive automated requests to be 'Linkedin' with our members please. You can imagine how many extra emails a day that generates for her very busy inbox! She would much prefer personal emails from you, as appropriate.

However, do not forget that as an IoCF full member you have access to a very personal and specific networking site in our forum. 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 ... or 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 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.

Enjoy our summer of celebrations.
Best wishes,
Christine Ogden

 
Admin News

ID Cards
Many thanks to Viv O'Neill and her husband, Pat, for their hard work to produce the ID cards. Photo identity is very useful when visiting families in their homes and some members have been asked to produce this. The card also provides the Institute contact number if a further check is wanted.

A card is available for every full member of the Institute and many of you will have received them from Viv by now, either at our last Best Practice Day or by post. 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, please send these to her at viv.oneill@btinternet.com.
 

Marketing
Our newest council member, Tricia Empson, is spearheading our marketing and PR programmes and with her guidance the council are working hard to raise the profile of the Institute and Civil Funerals.

Something that we can all do, council and members alike, is to attend local funeral industry events. If you know of an event in your area - exhibition, open day, SAIF or NAFD meetings, etc - then please let Tricia know so that she can work it into any publicity drive which we have planned and possibly, with sufficient notice, loan resources such as our banners to you, should you be able to use them. You can contact Tricia at empson.tricia@yahoo.com.
 

IoCF Stationery
To order any IoCF stationery items, 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

 

Child Funeral Charity
I would like to tell you about a new charity that we have just set up, the Child Funeral Charity, which provides financial support for bereaved parents when they need it.

Even though funeral directors do not always charge their fee for child and baby funerals, there are still a lot of unexpected costs for young families and our aim is to help them with payments where needed. Any professional, including you as a celebrant, can refer a family to us. There is an application form on the website www.childfuneralcharity.org.uk.

I am also delighted to invite you to a one day seminar: 'It's Time to Talk - an Educational Seminar on Child & Baby Funerals', on Wednesday 23 July at the National Memorial Arboretum. The day will include the official launch of the Child Funeral Charity and Bel Mooney will attend as the Charity's Patron.

Full details of the day can be found here and the booking form for the seminar is here.

The seminar is packed with top speakers and is being held at an amazing venue! An optional tour of the Memorial Arboretum is included and I really hope that you will be able to attend.

If you are able to help us with any fundraising initiatives and/or let local organisations in your area know about the charity, we would be most grateful! Please pass round this information about the launch event to anyone who you feel might be interested.

Thank you
Anne Barber
Trustee, Child Funeral Charity (Reg Charity No 1156387)
 

Best Practice Day

The Best Practice Day held on 5th April at Buckden Towers was a resounding success. Feedback from all those who joined us on the day was very positive about the usefulness of all the workshops held and the opportunity to chat with other members. Everyone left with new resources and information to further their professional development and something new to try. The only request was for more of the same.

As you may already be aware, in the future, the IoCF intends to hold two BP Days each year, one in the Spring and one in the Summer, followed by a grand finale in the Autumn: the Annual Conference. And so, building on the success of the first IoCF Best Practice Day (for which, a report will be published on the Forum shortly) the Council is very pleased to give you advanced notice of our second, which will take place on Saturday 19th July at the Claret Centre, Buckden, and will include a 'Cake & Fizz' Anniversary Celebration to close the day!

Although everything must remain provisional until the booking form is actually sent out, we hope the programme will include sessions on Marketing (Selling Yourself and the IoCF); Taking Care of Ourselves, IT ... and much more. There will also be plenty of time for networking, as requested, and a special 10th Anniversary contribution from our President, Anne Barber.

In the evening, if you wish to stay on, there will be an opportunity to continue the festivities at the Red Lion in Buckden, where we will be gathering informally for a meal. In due course Barbara will pull together a list of local B&B accommodation for anyone who wants to make this a proper weekend away!

Look out for your booking form which will be sent out shortly.

Sarah Willis
 

Conference and AGM

Friday 31st October - Sunday 2nd November
The conference will again be held at what has proved to be the very successful and popular venue of Hillscourt in Rednal. The conference centre has increased their charges to us this year but we are able to offer members the full weekend package at the still very reasonable rate of £325.

The full programme and invitations will be sent out shortly.
 

Database Statistics

Here are the stats for March 2014.

Total number of booking forms logged: 549

 
2014 Diary Dates

 
And Finally ...

Congratulations to the following members who have reached another milestone in their work: Graham Cuthell, Alison Kirkham, Sarah Chapman, Geoff Wood, Chris Wynn-Owen, Lesley Bates, Sharon Price, Lynn Banham, Jeremy Bradbear-Hector, Kim Finlayson. Gill Warwick, Heather Peet and Lawrence Jacobs.
 

And thank you for reading.