By Ruth Jewell, Dip.F.C.

July 2024

It may not be everyone’s idea of fun, but I had a wonderful day at the National Funeral Exhibition in June. Whilst from the name of the event, it would be perfectly normal to think that the day would be very sombre, it was in fact far from that. In fact, there was an excited buzz filling the huge halls, along with lots of chatter, hugs and catch-ups.

This was the first year that I had managed to attend, despite being a Celebrant for six years, and the Exhibition being laid on every other year. The extra bonus for me was that it was held at Stoneleigh, just a short drive from my home, so I didn’t have to stay over.

The Exhibition is open for three days, and the Halls were packed with anything and everything to do with funerals, alongside a whole wealth of funeral vehicles, greeting you outside.

I had earmarked a few stands that I specifically wanted to visit, but decided to work my way around slowly, taking in every stand. There were obviously some that weren’t relevant to me, such as mortuary equipment and repatriation, but it was still interesting to see what is on offer.

There were lots of stands offering different keepsake options around the storage of ashes, such as tree urns and scattering tubes, alongside many different ways to add ashes to things like jewellery, paperweights, glass sculptures, and preserving fingerprints, footprints and hand writing. There was also an option of having ashes combined with native wildflower seeds, and made into seed balls, that could be shared and scattered.