Funerals

When someone in your family dies you often have to make practical decisions very quickly while still in the shock and confusion of grief. Most people’s first port of call after a death is the Funeral Director and in Holbeach, we work very closely with our local funeral directors; Morriss and Haynes and the Co-op.

Can we have a Church of England funeral?
Anyone who lives, or lived, in the parish of Holbeach (parish boundary) is entitled to a Church of England Funeral which can take place either in the church or at any of the local crematoria and as the vicar of the parish I will take any funeral that I am asked to do if I am available. If I am not able to take the service myself then it is my duty to find a Church of England minister to take the service for you. The person who has died does not have to have been a church member to have a church funeral and if there are likely to be a large number of mourners you may want a church funeral simply because the building has the capacity to accommodate everyone. Also, we are not under the time pressure that the Crematoria are usually under and so have space for the service to take as long as it needs to.

Can we make a personal contribution to the service?
I am very happy for family members who want to pay tribute to their loved ones during the service to do so, and there is also the opportunity to use other poems and readings as well as a reading from the bible. We have excellent organists who will play any hymn that you would like and will play anything suitable on the way in or out of the service. We also have the facility to play recorded music if a family want to provide a CD for a particular piece of music either before or after the service or at any point during the service.

What support do you provide to the bereaved?
We also provide support after the funeral and have a Bereavement team who can provide follow up support and we also invite the next of kin to an annual memorial service at the beginning of November. Please look at our leaflet ‘We are here’ for further information (We are here)

The Church of England has an excellent new website telling you everything you might need to know about Funerals, please use this link