The job of a Funeral Director is to take care of practical arrangements for you at a time of great distress. This means advising you of the options and choices for the funeral and seeing that arrangements are made in accordance with your wishes and those of the person who has died.

The Anglia Co-operative Funeral Group has experience in arranging funerals across all religions and in organising humanist services.

We recommend that you speak to your Funeral Director about how to organise the funeral, but the information in this section is intended as a guide.

• Whether a burial or cremation
• When the service will happen (day, date, time)
• Where it will happen (church, cremation chapel, cemetery chapel, graveside, elsewhere)

There is usually a fee charged for digging the grave. There may be a further charge if you wish to purchase the exclusive right of burial. This means that no further burials can take place in that grave without your permission. In many areas, you need to purchase the exclusive right of burial if you want to put up a memorial.

There are alternatives to burial in a churchyard or cemetery, such as burial in a vault, burial at sea and woodland burials.

Many people take comfort from placing belongings such as photographs and letters in the coffin with the person they have lost. It may also be your wish that they are dressed in their own clothing and that the coffin is decorated to reflect an interest or pastime.
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Most crematoria incorporate a service chapel. You may wish to use this if you do not want to hold the service itself in a church or other location. Or you may wish to use the crematoria for committal only.

You may wish to consider music to be played. Most crematoria provide an organist, pre-recorded music from which you can choose or a cassette or CD player on which you can play music of your choice.

There are some restrictions on what is permitted to be included in a committal, for example metal objects and certain materials. Your Funeral Director can advise on these.

There may be a closing of curtains as the committal takes place, or the coffin moves gently out of sight. Some people prefer that the coffin is left on view until everyone has left.

Ashes can be scattered, buried, or kept. Scattering ashes can be in the grounds of the crematorium, In a family grave, in your garden, at a place with fond memories, in woodland or on moorland, at sea, abroad. (In each case, permission should be sought from the appropriate authority).

People who bury ashes do so for a variety of reasons, so they can visit the burial site, so a memorial can be put up at the site, or perhaps so that the ashes of more than one family member can be placed together.

Some people prefer to keep the ashes at home in a casket designed for that purpose. Some choose to divide the ashes amongst family members, and it is even possible to place these in a piece of specially designed jewellery.
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The following is a guide to the day of the service itself:

The hearse and following cars are together called a ‘cortege’.

Consideration needs to be given to the following:

• What type of hearse will be required, standard motor hearse or horse-drawn hearse?
• How many cars will be required? (the majority can carry six people)
• Where will the cortege leave from?
• Will it take a special route?
• Where will the mourners return to?
• Will you require wheelchairs?

Some families decide they want to bear the coffin themselves throughout the ceremony, instead of the funeral director’s staff. Or bearers may be friends or colleagues of the person who has died.

Specific pieces of music may be played during the service.

A eulogy may take place to pay tribute to the person who has died.

You may wish to offer refreshments after the funeral and, if so, decisions need to be made as to what food and drink is to be offered, who will undertake the catering arrangements, and where this will take place. Your Funeral Director can make the arrangements for you.

Flowers or making a donation to charity is a long-standing tradition for friends and family. Your Funeral Director can organise flowers for you, together with recording and distributing donations to charity on your behalf.

The obituary notice – in a local, national, or other publication – announces the death and funeral details. Some people like to place acknowledgement notices in the press after the funeral to thank people for their support. Your Funeral Director can organise these for you.

Some people also like to compile a book of compliments and reminiscences about the person who has died, written by family and friends attending the service or afterwards.

A decision does not need to be made until after the funeral regarding whether to put a memorial on the grave or on the site of the burial of ashes. Your Funeral Director can advise you of the regulations about what kind of memorial can be put up, and when, as they vary considerably from place to place.
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The costs of a funeral fall into three main categories:

• Cost of materials, such as coffin or casket, clothing
  and memorials.
Click here to view our coffin range
• Funeral Director’s fee, including making the arrangements, hire of vehicles, liaison with third parties on documentation and management of the funeral.
• Disbursements paid to other organisations on your behalf such as church or Crematorium/Cemetary fees and
  obituary notices.
  
  The ultimate cost will depend on your choices for the funeral and can range from one thousand to several thousand pounds.

If your Funeral Director is a member of the National Association of Funeral Directors (as all Co-operative Group Funeral Directors are), they have a duty to explain clearly what the options are and how much they cost so that you are fully informed about the choices you make.

Rather than pay for the funeral from their estate (or leave the cost to a family member), some people prefer to pay in advance.
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