Your local church is here for the difficult times in life. We have volunteers who are able to offer pastoral support, and we will do what we can to support you through these sad times. You don’t need to be a member of the congregation to come and speak to us.
Bereavement Support …
As well as our own Pastoral Visitors, you might also find the following support networks helpful:
- At A Loss is there to help the bereaved find the support that they need when they need it. As well as providing resources and sign posting other bereavement organisations they also have trained counsellors available to chat with over the phone.
- Cruse Bereavement Care provides a telephone helpline and trained volunteers providing face-to-face support and practical advice across the country.
- SANDS helps parents who have experienced the death of their baby dying before, during or shortly after birth.
- Winston’s Wish helps young people re-adjust to life after the death of a parent or sibling.
- Association of Christian Counsellors is a Christian organisation providing a nationwide standard for Christian counselling and care, along with the encouragement, training and resourcing of Pastoral Carers.
- The Counselling Directory is a confidential service that encourages those in distress to seek help. The directory contains information on many different types of distress, as well as articles, news, and events.
The Funeral …
Giving thanks for, and saying goodbye to your loved one is an important part of the grieving process, and we want to work with you to do all that we can to enable you to do just that in an appropriate and personal way at the funeral service.
The first step in organising the funeral service is usually to find a Funeral Director. They will then liaise with us to set the date and time of the funeral service, and then once that has been done, the person who will take the service will be in touch with you to discuss the arrangements for the service.
The website UK Funerals Online has further information regarding funeral arrangements.
If the person who has died was a resident of the village, or they were on the Church’s own Electoral Roll, then their body or ashes can be buried in the church graveyard. You are not allowed to scatter the ashes in a church graveyard, they must be buried, and each church, with the exception of Kingston, has an area set aside for the burial of ashes. The person taking the service will discuss these details with you when they visit.
If you are wanting to have the deceased’s body or ashes placed in an existing grave then you will need to provide evidence that the rest of the family are in agreement; we have permission forms available to download to help you to do that. Download as a PDF file, the Permission to inter Cremated Remains form (31 Kb), or the Permission to inter a body form (31 Kb).
Headstones & Memorials, and the Burial of Ashes …
The grave of a loved one is a very personal place and it is understandable that people want to personalise the grave. However there are a number of rules regarding church graveyards and cemeteries, set by the Chancellor of the Diocese, that do not apply to graveyards and cemeteries owned by the Local Authority, and this can sometimes create confusion for families who may not be aware of the differences.
You can read these regulations online, or download them to your computer as a PDF file.
Online: Read the Headstones & Memorials regulations, or read the regulations regarding the burial of ashes.
Download as a PDF file, the Headstones & Memorials regulations (42 Kb), or the regulations regarding the burial of ashes (41 Kb).
Also available to download is the Application form to introduce a memorial (31 Kb); this is also the form to be used for adding an inscription to an existing memorial.
This page was last updated: 23rd May 2020
The information given is for general guidance only and is not intended to be a definitive statement of the law or the Church’s practice.
Material used has been adapted from articles on the website of the Church of England.