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Types of funeral 

Every funeral at Westmill is unique because no two people or families are the same.

They can look absolutely traditional except that they are in a natural burial ground or they can be very informal and home-made.  We place no time limit on how long you take on the day so if you feel you would like some live music, a picnic in the round house and to fly some kites, well that’s entirely up to you! Equally, if you are planning a funeral service and reception elsewhere and simply want to go straight to grave then you are welcome to do that too.

Not all our funerals involve a funeral director but most do and our families choose to work with them in a variety of ways. The funeral director can organise the whole funeral for you both before and on the day. They can look after the deceased until the day of the funeral and then bring them for you to look after once they are at Westmill with support from our staff. You can look after the person who has died at home or collect them from hospital and bring them to Westmill yourselves without using a funeral director.  Please see Doing everything yourself for ideas and things to think about.

Informal funeral

Direct funerals

More and more families are now choosing to have a ‘Direct’ funeral.   The advantage of this approach is it is very simple and cost effective and suits families who do not want to be at the funeral or those who do not think anyone will wish to come to their funeral.  There is no service and you are informed when cremation or burial will take place but have no control over the date or time.  This usually means that only a few family members come, if any, and that if there is to be a larger event it is held separately at a date to suit those concerned.  Direct funerals can be organised with your local funeral director or if you go online there are national organisations offering this service at very competitive prices.

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“From the moment we set foot at Westmill, the healing began. The care and compassion Liz took with all aspects of planning my husband’s burial and the service provided on the day (and since) was perfect”