November 2013

Chairman's address to the AGM
Saturday 2 November 2013

My previous addresses to the Annual General Meeting of our Institute have not always been a spectacular success! True, they have gone down well with the people in the room, but without exception, once the text has been published to the whole membership, I have received some sharp ripostes - and in one case a verbal exocet. With that in mind, I have to remember that what I say today reaches a wider audience, an audience that is sometimes offended but an audience which isn't so deeply worried that it chooses to come to our meeting!

This is my last address to you as Chairman. With effect from 9am on Monday I have cast myself into the wilderness - no longer Chairman, not even on Council. Had I been keeping up my celebrancy work in the way I have previously done, I could have stood for re-election. The stark fact is that I am winding down my business to the extent that I only want to do 'repeats and requests'. I have plenty to fill my days - and locally there must be some glee that there is one less celebrant looking for funerals.

Before I move away from the subject of Council, I want to pay tribute to those men and women who freely give of their time to make sure that you, the members, get the backing and support you need. No-one will mind if I speak first about two particular members, Jill Maguire and Julie Dunk. They have become such fixtures that it is difficult to imagine them not being there, but they have made the decision to leave Council.

Jill is a Founder Member of the Institute, in at the beginning. In addition to her full life as a celebrant, she has found the time - hers is a twenty-seven hour day by the way! - to be what I know no other Council member will mind me saying and that is the most active of us all. Jill, a lady with no financial or accountancy training, took on the arduous role of Treasurer. In truth, a hands-on view of the accounts allowed her to add to her already sage advice at meetings and in extensive e-mail conferences. I cannot tell you the number of times that discussions have gone on their merry way, only to be brought back into line and into reality by Jill Maguire's wisdom. Not that we always listened - and I know the insurance issue still bugs her. Jill has also maintained an active link between our Institute and CCL's funeral celebrant training courses, in so doing recruiting a goodly number of new members to our ranks. We all have cause to say a huge 'thank you' to Jill Maguire.

Julie Dunk has given us stalwart service as a co-opted member of Council. Although her work prevented her from being at every meeting, when she was in attendance you could always guarantee a positive input. Specifically, she has done a lot to help us with conferences over the years and the Institute owes her a debt of gratitude. Her reasons for leaving us are simple - the demands of the ICCM come first and the job is becoming more demanding. Again, 'thank you' to Julie Dunk.

Council is composed of elected working celebrants and other people who are co-opted for particular skills. Each of them gives of their time freely. Not only that, they make no claims for mileage or lodgings when attending meetings - a very generous approach when you think that they come from West Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, Surrey and so on. Whenever I have chaired a meeting, I have been acutely aware that all those working celebrants round the table have had to turn down funerals - earning opportunities - to be there and to ensure the good order of the Institute. Their commitment doesn't stop there. There is a multitude of e-mail discussion to wade through - almost daily, it would seem - and each of them receives a share of the family questionnaires for checking. They are also involved in the very rare follow-ups that come from the questionnaires. It has been a pleasure for me to work alongside such a dedicated group of volunteers.

Closely linked to Council and the volunteers is our one professional paid staff member. I refer of course to Barbara Pearce. Barbara has been like a breath of fresh air. My antipathy towards our late lamented Chief Executive Mervyn Pilley is well known if not well documented. Barbara took up the flailing reins left in the wake of Mervyn and has steadied the ship - mixed metaphors, I know, but you will get the drift! We now have complete confidence that all matters of administration are fully and properly dealt with by Barbara. She is not slow to seek guidance, but she also has the ability and the initiative to get on and deal with things on an everyday basis. Barbara has been a force for good within our Institute and long may that continue.

We will be dealing later with finances, fees and the like and I anticipate lively discussion. But around the issue of fees is the oft asked question: "What do I get for my money?" Well, what does a member get for his or her money? As they say in 'Strictly come dancing', in no particular order, they get:

• Public liability insurance
• Quality assurance questionnaires from families
• National promotion through the full selection of funeral industry journals and trade magazines
• Promotion through trade exhibitions
• Promotion through industry meetings attended by IoCF
• A 10% discount on specialist and funeral courses with our accredited training partner,
  Civil Ceremonies Ltd
• Ceremony support in the form of script assessment and constructive feedback
• A regular update on resources and materials available
• A regular update of news and views
• A web based forum
• Promotion on the IoCF website map
• Access to a mini-site on the IoCF website
• The ability to have a working e-mail address as in @iocf.org.uk
• The opportunity to attend an annual conference
• Access to specialist IoCF stationery
• Information on funeral trade association meetings that they are welcome to attend
• Use of the post-nominal 'MICF' ... and
• They get to wear the gold membership badge - a badge recognised throughout the funeral industry
  as a mark of high standard.

That list is not exhaustive. A lot goes on behind the scenes that members don't necessarily get to hear about or indeed concern themselves with. I think in particular of the rise and fall of the Association of Registered Celebrants. This attempt to bring all celebrants under one regulated roof was not good for our profession. Perhaps there is a call for the profession to be regulated - but not in the way ARC envisaged. At least part of their downfall was a claim to have Government backing. Some astute detective work and letter writing by Karen Hopkins resulted in the relevant Government department writing a stiff letter to the ARC, after which their website disappeared from view - and they have lost the ability to reply to e-mails it would seem. The ARC may return in one guise or another, but for the time being it has gone.

The Institute have also acted as a conduit between members and crematoria, where it would be difficult for an individual member to voice a complaint. This meets with varying degrees of success, but we have a duty to our members to take up the cudgels from time to time.

On rare occasions, Council also receive complaints about members and these must be investigated. Most are simple misunderstandings, many are the fault of the funeral directors or crematorium staff and the complaints are wrongly addressed. The most difficult matters to deal with are where a member complains about the conduct of another member. These are often matters of business ethics and are, frankly, almost impossible to deal with in any meaningful way.

What it should do is remind us all that we work under a microscope and that our standards in our dealings with families, with funeral directors, with crematorium staff, with fellow celebrants, in fact with everyone, should at all times be above and beyond reproach.

The Institute of Civil Funerals is a voice which is heard within the funeral industry. It is a 'brand' which is recognised locally. There are many imitators and cheap alternatives in the market place. It is the duty of all members of the IoCF to make sure that we continue to be at the forefront.

I thank you all for your trust in me over these past few years and I wish you all - each and every one of you - continued and increased success.

 
Peter McNulty    2.11.13