Help and support news

Talking more about death is a good thing, but there is a clear difference between encouraging private, purposeful conversations around the fulfillment of final wishes and idle banter that risks disrespecting the bereaved.

Sending flowers as a tribute to the deceased is less common than it used to be, with many families now asking for charitable donations in lieu of flowers.

Direct cremations, when the deceased is collected and taken directly from the place of death to the crematorium without a viewing or funeral service, are becoming more popular.

A pre-paid funeral plan is an ideal way to plan ahead for your funeral. With funeral prices rising faster than inflation and interest rates, there is no guaranteed that money saved in other ways will pay the costs of a future funeral.

A quick look at the musical pedigree of six of the most popular song choices at modern British funerals.

What clothes do people choose to wear for their own funeral? Do you need to be in your Sunday best, or are attitudes to dressing for our own final send-off changing?

Social media looms large over modern life. But at a funeral, its potential to upset family and friends, both during and after the service, is very real.

Traditionally, there was really only one type of funeral in the UK, but with British society more diverse than ever, funeral formats are far less fixed.

Grief is one of the most powerful emotions we experience as humans and it can be very difficult to discuss a loss with others. Writing is a tried and trusted method for helping people come to terms with the sorrow they feel at the death of a loved one.

Many of the once-strict social conventions surrounding funeral services have relaxed and, along with the choice of funeral music, one of the biggest changes has been in what people wear.

Every year at this time, volunteers distributes the familiar red paper poppies throughout the UK, collecting donations to help support the vital work the Royal British Legion does to support the Armed Forces community.

The First World War was one of the most significant conflicts of the 20th century. Between 1914 and 1918, more than nine million men were killed on the battlefield, many of whom were buried in makeshift graves near where they had fallen. For the families of victims who never returned home, the traditional rituals of bereavement were disrupted forever.

The accounts of Facebook users that have passed away are handled in two ways. Do you want to be memorialised or deleted?

Once little more than death notices, modern obituaries can be ‘vivid, colourful, funny and truthful mini-biographies’.

The idea of celebrating the anniversary of a loved one’s death is unfamiliar to most people in the UK, but in some cultures it is common.

The word Death screams finality and for as long as the English language has existed, we have used euphemisms to make it less harsh.