Focus SWW Summer 2019 | Page 26

Personalise your funeral when purchasing a funeral plan Personalisation is proving to be a growing priority for Brits when planning a final farewell; from the funeral music to arriving in style. Over the last three years, we’ve seen the number of requests for unique hearses increase by a fifth (21%)*. These range from a rainbow hearse to land rovers to a hearse showered with 100 red poppies. It is apparent that we want to move away from traditional funerals, our biggest ever survey into death, dying and bereavement, conducted among 30,000 Brits, revealed that two fifths (41%) would like their funeral to be a celebration of life, rather than a sad occasion. A further one in five (20%) want mourners to wear bright colours at their funeral.** David Collingwood, our Director of Funerals, commented: “We all lead unique lives and our final goodbye should definitely reflect that. Personalised touches don’t need to be extravagant – it can be something as small as changing the funeral directing team’s ties.” When you choose a Co-op funeral plan you get peace of mind that everything’s paid for and arranged in advance. So whatever happens, you can be sure your loved ones are left with happy memories and a funeral that is personal to you. 24 the society of will writers