The Iron Lady

Bury Me With Full Pomp But No Flypast, Please

She’s still alive, but the Iron Lady’s funeral plans made headline news in last weekend’s Sunday Times.

Baroness Thatcher has reportedly approved a blueprint for a state funeral that will honour her contribution to the nation, with a send-off at St Paul’s from a concert orchestra playing works from Elgar.

Arrangements have, says the Sunday Times, been under discussion since at least 2007 and plans were due to be revisited at a top level meeting this week.

It is understood that she has asked to be laid to rest in the cemetery of the Royal Chelsea Hospital with her husband, who died in 2003.  She dies not want the public to file past her coffin as she lies in state, nor a military fly past. 

The Queen is expected to attend the funeral, along with other members of the Royal Family. 

And the Sunday Times reports that while Mrs Thatcher’s children have been kept informed of plans, they would not be responsible for making the final decisions.  

What this may suggest it that sometimes it’s not appropriate to let those nearest and dearest to have the final say.  But how would you feel about a top level committee planning your funeral?

Angelina's 'Plan B'

Well, fancy that!

Award winning American actress Angelina Jolie admitted in a recent interview that her ‘Plan B’ was to become an undertaker.

Reportedly, as a 14-year-old she was so displeased with her grandfather’s funeral she thought she could do better, so signed up for a mail-order degree.

Now leaving aside the fact that, here in the UK at least, a correspondence course just wouldn’t cut the mustard, her comments do raise an interesting point.

You only get one shot at getting the funeral ‘right’. Even agreeing what shape ‘right’ actually takes can be a major cause of family fall-outs. And let’s face it organising funerals isn’t something most people have lots of experience in. Of course there’ll be professionals to guide and advise you, but at the end of the day it’s your responsibility to ‘get it right’.

Here at Woodland Burial Parks we encourage families to personalise funerals - to give their loved ones a send-off that truly reflects who they were. Perfectly achievable with time to plan – perhaps not so easy at short notice.

So, give those left behind a fighting chance to ‘get it right’ when your time comes – let someone know what sort of funeral you’d like. Let them do you proud.

And if you’ve been unimpressed with the funerals you’ve attended then it’s worth doing a little research on the choices now available. After all, your funeral will be your last public appearance so isn’t it worth making sure you go out in style?