All Posts

There seems to be a bit of debate in death work circles between those who see Halloween and the accompanying ghoulish paraphanalia as disrespectful and distasteful to those who are living with the realities of loss, and those who embrace spooky season as one of the few times if the year where acknowledging death is acceptable. I'm firmly in the latter camp: I love it all, but I'm happy to respect the views of those who don't. Learning to live with loss is hard, and howeve

7th January 2027 Workshop 1: Funeral Planning 14th January 2027 Workshop 2: Death Planning 21st January 2027 Workshop 3: Write your own Eulogy 28th January 2027: Workshop 4: What's your Legacy? All 2pm-4:30pm The Garden Room, Quaker Meeting House, The Polygon, Eccles, Manchester M30 0DS, UK There's lots of evidence that getting your death planning done can be a weight off, which means you can actually enjoy life more, but how many of us ever get round to it? These workshops a

Woman dressed as a Victorian Funeral Director gives committal Once upon a time, in what feels like another lifetime, but was actually less than a year ago, I was an academic, a lecturer in Social Policy, dwelling in an ivory tower with some heroes, a fair few villains, and a lot of wonderful students. Then a dragon, or rather a series of dragons, came and burnt it all down, and, from those ashes, I rose as The Death Coach, and started a whole new life, and here we are. Before

There are lots of reasons to hold a ceremony, funerals aside, and I can help you with many other forms of memorial and celebration, from marking the death of a much loved pet, to life changes such as the end of a relationship, divorce, children leaving home, a career shift, and so much more. Marking these transitions can be helpful in processing the shift, particularly when the change was unexpected, sudden, or felt out of your control. Holding a ceremony to mark it can bring

It’s another cliché, but you never stop learning in any of my roles, and yesterday demonstrated that when I attended a training session at Natural Endings Funeral Directors in Todmorden, facilitated by Alexandra Derwan from Sacred Circle Co CIC , and I’d very much recommend checking them out if you are interested in this kind of work. The session was fantastic: really well facilitated and a great chance to talk to other celebrants, which is always appreciated. I’m very much s

There's a place for the personal, unique funeral, no doubt, and I'm all for more of it, but...... tradition has it's place too. Sometimes it's just what's right for the person who died. And sometimes it's just easier for a stuggling family who are already overwhelmed and just want the simplest options, and the fewest choices. And that's fine!

I was interviewed on the show today about my funerals, Laughter yoga, and Death Cafe, and I got a free pie! It was great fun chatting to Tony and listening to the talented Matthew Thick Richard, with whom I share a much missed old friend, the Bard of Bolton, Hovis Presley.

Mum’s called everyone round to break the news, and it’s not good. Cancer. And it’s terminal. There’s so much emotion in the room, fear, anger, disbelief. The family cry together, hug each other maybe. Or perhaps some of them can’t do that. They’ve never been a touchy feely type family, and, even though they might want to, this doesn’t feel like a safe time to start. Nobody really knows what to say, how to feel, or what to do. There’s nothing they can do in that moment. Once t

I only just realised that this fantastic article had been published! Not sure how I missed it at the time, but I'm really pleased with it. Thanks Mag North! https://www.mag-north.com/posts/tell-them-you-love-them

Female funeral celebrant stood at lecturn in cremation chapel Most people seem to hate funerals, and I get that, but I love them, which is handy given my role as a celebrant. It’s an unpopular opinion, and I should probably explain that when I say I love them, it’s not because I like seeing people crying or unhappy. It’s because I think they have a really important function in society, and in our personal grief process. Pretty much all cultures in all times and places have s

People often ask me why I’m so fascinated by death. They word it differently, but that’s the basic question, so I thought it might be something worth explaining here. I can’t remember a time when I haven’t been drawn to elements of death: graveyards have always intrigued me, and I’ve always had an interest in funerals, as well as the bigger questions of what happens to us once we are gone. I also can’t remember a time when death hasn’t been part of my life. My Uncle Kevin die

We don’t tend to associate end of life with goal setting, and, for some people, one of the benefits of being at this stage is to never have to have any more goals ever again, which is totally valid! However, having some clear ideas around what you do and don’t want to happen, in terms of medical treatment, but also about who you want to spend time with, if there are any places you’d like to visit, things you want to do, and working on a plan to make this happen, can be really

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