I am Nicky Sutton, a Freelance Funeral Director in Somerset. The job role now known as ‘Funeral Director’ has replaced the previous name of ‘Undertaker’. In my role I consider myself to be an undertaker rather than a funeral director. Those the funeral is for or about direct what is happening, I simply undertake their choices and make the necessary arrangements and provisions for them.
What is a Freelance Funeral Director?
A freelance funeral director is a funeral director who is independent of any funeral directing business or company. It means people are now able to choose a funeral director as well as a funeral home/parlour/business. Traditionally, bereaved people booked a funeral with their local, sometimes families used undertakers, and everyone who died was looked after by the same business, and their funerals were arranged by them.
My role as a Freelance Funeral Director in Somerset involves working with a chosen funeral business, and ‘directing’ on the day of the funeral. Directing involves walking (known as ‘paging’) in front of the coffin into the crematorium or to the graveside.
I am a female funeral director, and there are many people who prefer to use a female funeral director for their personal reasons.
Traditional Funeral Services in Somerset
Funerals can be traditional with attending mourners wearing black, hymns heard, with prayers and religious content included, or they can be life centred with guests wearing less formal, non-black clothing with favourite music heard and the person who had died remembered and celebrated in a unique way. Funerals are life led; no longer determined by religious expectation.
Alternative Funerals in Glastonbury and Somerset
Specialising in alternative, non-traditional funeral ceremonies for those who want their last ceremony and final goodbye to be as individual as the life they led. Previous celebrations of life I have arranged have included funerals for some of Glastonbury’s Pagan community, Goth funerals, Biker funerals and colourful celebrations of life.
Being professional, attentive, empathic, knowledgeable and supportive are requirements in the role I carry out. Everyone’s life is unique and it is part of my role as a Freelance Funeral Director in Somerset to try to accommodate the funeral choices of those who book my services.
‘With you at the helm Nicky we are confident that you will continue to grow caring for many more families.’
Mendip Crematorium and Memorial Gardens
I work mainly across Somerset but travel further if required, and I can be booked directly for the following kinds of funerals.
Cremations
Burials
Natural burials
Non- attended (direct cremations)
Memorials
Scattering of ashes
Interring of ashes
We only have one opportunity to say goodbye, make it personal.