Dear Richard,

I just want to say thank you so very much for all your kindness and for taking care of everything yesterday. You made a sad and painful day so much easier for us all.

Thank you for making it feel so natural for me to place the heather on her coffin. I wouldn’t have been brave enough to do it otherwise. (She always wished her name was Heather and so I had always called her Heather instead). 

We would also like to apologise for not realising we had your surname wrong. It was only after printing the order of service cards that we noticed your name is Terrado-Reardon not Reardon.

It was so lovely to meet you and we will be forever grateful for your kindness at such a difficult time.

With warmest regards

Pauline, Matthew & Rod Brewster  x

Hello again Claire,

I just want to thank you again for the wonderful celebration of the life of my wife you delivered on Wednesday. I am sure she would have approved as have all the family and all the friends and colleagues present. It was a fitting send off for a wonderful woman.

Best wishes for the future
​
Mike W

Hi Claire,

Thank you so much for delivering Mum's service today. I think she would have loved her send off. Everyone has commented how lovely the service was.

All the very best,

Claire

Good morning Karin
 
I returned home yesterday and I slept very well last night – at last! I know I thanked you after the service but my mind was very unfocussed at that point!
 
I wanted to create some space to reflect on the whole service and then write to you.  I thought you would like to know that I lost count of the number of people who took the time to come to me and express what a wonderful ‘service’ it was for Ken.  They thought that it brought out the real Ken beautifully and that it was warm and informal enough to ‘enjoy’.  They commented on the music and the women’s eulogies and how well you conveyed mine.  I would like to echo that and to thank you personally because I know I would never have been able to get through all that I wanted to say without breaking down and making people feel uneasy witnessing my suffering - and I wanted my life with Ken to be represented the way that I would have delivered it if I could have – and you did exactly that - I heard you convey exactly the right tone and pause where I would have and deliver the funny bits appropriately and the emotional bits with dignity and integrity to the actual event.

The delivery of my eulogy is one reason why I wanted a woman to do it, but I also wanted a woman because I knew that there would be a strong male imbalance without a woman taking the lead.  And, as far as I’m concerned the service attained exactly the right balance. I’m so happy to say that I made my choice wisely and that you conveyed warmth, love and compassion in a way that the aura created in the room was – well I don’t have a word to explain it – it was just right, a combination of warmth, reality, love and seriousness.  Ken’s friend Allen in the second row managed to convey, musically, a spine-tingling effect to the hymns (he’s one of the Pendyrus male voice choir) and an old friend at the club told me a couple of times, ‘that’s the ‘best’ service he’s been to!’
 
I was so touched that I’d managed to do that for Ken and I couldn’t have done that without your professionalism and natural way of communicating in a way that is ‘just right’ and of course with Lauren’s gentle, reassuring and professional holding and support throughout.
 
Thank you so much Karin
 
Warm wishes

​Sue