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In 1998, my first child died, while I was 23+5 weeks pregnant. I will undoubtedly address the circumstances around that in another blog, but this one is about how I was able to finally honour her in 2023. We named her Alice Lorelei Bodkin, and she was buried at Ellenbrook Woodland Cemetery, during a very small, immediate family only funeral. This wasn’t really my choice, and small, intimate gatherings are not really me, but family members told me this was the way it was for

Last week saw the culmination of an idea I had some time ago to hold a coffin decorating workshop to give people an opportunity to combine creativity with the chance to talk openly about death. Fate brought me into contact with Co-op funeral arranger, Kate Ramsey, from B. Johnson Funeral Care in Cadishead, and she loved the idea, and managed to secure support from her manager for the project. Weeks of planning and publicising later, and we ran the workshop in Eccles Library!

Score for Purcell's Funeral March Choosing the music for a funeral, whether your own or someone else’s, can be daunting, but I’m here to help. The tradition at most crematoriums is to have three pieces of music, but this isn’t set in stone. You can have as many or as few as you like: the entire ceremony could just be music or you could have no music at all. The traditional approach though is a piece played as everyone comes in, then a reflective piece during the ceremony, oft

Building on the success of Eccles Death Café, I had an idea which becomes reality this month: a community cardboard coffin decorating event, now known as Collage a Coffin. The session takes place on 27 th April, 2-4, at Eccles Library, and you can book your free place here: https://salfordcommunityleisure.co.uk/event/collage-a-coffin/ It’s a real collaboration. Salford Community Leisure are providing the space, Co-op Funeralcare are providing the coffin, Art & Soul are lea

Since it’s Eccles Library Death Café this week, Friday 27 th March 2026, 1:30-3:30, I thought I’d explain a bit about what one is. A Death Café is a space for people to talk about any and every aspect of death and dying, all over a hot drink and cake. The idea was developed in 2011, in London, by Jon Underwood and Sue Barsky Reid, and has spread across the globe, with events in over 97 countries. Death cafes are for everyone, regardless of belief or background. Death is some

Funeral arranger, Kate Ramsey, and I were interviewed by Salford Media recently about all things death and funerals, and about our upcoming Coffin Decorating Workshop on 27th April at Eccles Library, details coming soon!

Hello and welcome to The Death Coach. I thought I’d introduce myself and explain a bit about what I do and why. I’ve had a range of roles over the years: from burger flipper to University lecturer, choreographer to home educating mother, stand-up comedian to funeral celebrant and many more in between. What I love most, other than standing at the front and talking in some capacity, is working with people. I’m fascinated by people’s stories, which is great when I’m writing fune