Funeral arrangements are normally made following the registration or upon completion of a Coroners enquiry. However, should there be a delay, we would be happy to see you sooner to make provisional arrangements. We ask you to make an appointment to arrange a funeral, so that we can ensure that a funeral director is available to talk to you at the time you desire. The funeral director will need to have, in due course, the Certificate for Burial or Cremation (green form) which the Registrar will have given you when you registered the death.
Your appointment with our funeral director will take around one hour, depending on the level of detail that you wish to discuss and the complexity of the arrangements and service. Our funeral directors hold the National Association of Funeral
Directors Diploma, and we are pleased to be able to offer both gentlemen and lady funeral directors. Please advise us if you have a particular preference. If required, we are able to come to your home to make funeral arrangements.
If a person has died elsewhere in the UK or overseas, we can make arrangements for transportation back to our premises for a local funeral. We can also handle arrangements when a person has passed away in this area and the funeral service
is to be held elsewhere, as we have very close links with all parts of the country through our professional associations. We are also experienced in funeral arrangements to and from other countries and the various regulations and documents required. We will need to discuss with you the following areas:
- Burial or cremation - Local options would be explained to you. If you require a funeral outside the area, we would be more than happy to assist.
- If cremation is requested, we can advise you of the options available for the interment or scattering of cremated remains.
- Format of the service, including liaison with a minister or civil celebrant. This can include readings and other personal touches and may also involve both a church service and a short committal service at a crematorium, or services of thanksgiving or a memorial service.
- Requirements for transportation, e.g. which hearse you require, how many limousines.
- Requirements for coffin type and, for cremation, ashes caskets can also be discussed.
- Music - The choice of music would depend on the style of service, either religious or non-religious. Hymns chosen by the family are often sung. A list of hymn suggestions at Stourbridge and Gornal Wood Crematorium can be found on the separate leaflet available on request. At both the local Crematoriums they have facilities to play tapes and CD’s, which must be at the Crematorium one working day prior to the service.
- There will be a number of forms to be signed, and also we ask that you make us aware of any specific wishes of the deceased regarding their funeral details.
Once you have the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death from the Doctor, Hospital, Hospice or other place of death, you will need to make arrangements to register the death. Funeral Directors are unable to register a death. This is normally done by the Next Of Kin or an executor of the deceased. All our local registrars now operate an appointment system, therefore please telephone before visiting. It normally takes between 15 and 30 minutes to register a death and please be advised that the Registrar reserves the right to charge for missed appointments. We can assist with Registrars outside of the local area,
please ask if this is the case.
The Registrar will require the Doctor’s Medical Certificate of cause of death, together with the deceased’s medical card (if it is available). The Registrar will also need to know the date and place and death, the full name and surname (including maiden name if married woman), date and place of birth, occupation, usual address and whether the deceased was in receipt of a pension. The Registrar will issue you with a green certificate, which the funeral director requires as soon as possible. Whilst you are at the Registrars, it is also advisable that you purchase copies of the entry into the Register (£3.50 per copy). Banks, Building Societies and Insurance Companies will require sight of these to close accounts but they may not necessarily keep them, but they will not always accept photocopies.
There are various reasons why a death may have to be reported to the Coroner by a Doctor or by the Police. The Coroner’s duty is to establish the cause of death when a doctor is unable to certify. If this is the case, relatives will be kept informed of the situation by the Coroner’s Officer and they will be advised when they will be able to go to register. If the deceased is to be cremated, then the green certificate as detailed previously, is not issued by the Registrar as we receive a form direct from the Coroner. A relative must still attend to register the death and we will advise when this can be done.
When the Coroner decides that an Inquest is necessary, they will issue forms as required for burial or cremation and will register the death automatically. Relatives will then need to go the Registrar if copies of the document are required. Usually the Coroner’s procedure takes very little time, perhaps four or five days, but on some occasions the funeral may have to be delayed. The Coroner’s Officer for Dudley area can be contacted on 0121 500 2714 or 0121 500 2715.
The embalming process is a hygienic and cosmetic process which restores natural appearances and affords freedom from infection to those handling and viewing the deceased. It would also increase, by a small amount, the time between death and the funeral, if required. We would always embalm the deceased if the person arranging the funeral has requested that they or family and friends may wish to view them. Please advise us if you would prefer that embalming did not take place.
Our private, peaceful, chapels of rest allow you to pay your last respects to your loved one. These are air-conditioned and have a number of seats for your comfort. We ask that you make an appointment to view and if you should need any help during your visit, a member of staff can accompany you.
If you wish to provide a set of clothing for the deceased, we ask that you bring this prior to viewing so that dressing may take place. Otherwise you can select one of our gowns at the time of arranging the funeral.
If you simply wish to sit alongside the closed coffin in one of our chapels, we are happy to arrange this for you. We can also arrange to have the coffin brought to your home or taken into church prior to the funeral service, for family and friends to pay their final respects.
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Our Jaguar hearse will convey the coffin from our chapels of rest to the church, crematorium or other venue. The hearse often goes via your home or another address, with the limousines following to complete the cortege. You may, of course, choose for it to go directly to the venue.
We have a second hearse available, a 1964 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud 3. This is a beautiful classic car, which the family of car enthusiasts, or classic car fans may chose to take their loved one on their final journey. There is an additional charge for the use of this vehicle.
Our two air-conditioned limousines will seat six persons. Extra limousines can be arranged at your request. Please advise us as soon as possible if you need additional transport. We can also arrange for alternative transportation, such as a horse-drawn hearse or motor-cycle hearse, please ask us for details and prices.
Please ensure that if you wish for any children or babies to travel in our vehicles, you must advise this in advance and provide a suitable baby seat or booster seat for them. |
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A full range of prices is provided to reflect funerals from the very simple to the most elaborate. After finalising the funeral arrangements, we will provide you with a written confirmation of the funeral details, and also a written itemised estimate of our charges and disbursements that we pay on your behalf. A final account will follow approximately one week after the funeral. If you are approaching the Department of Social Security (DSS) for payment or part-payment, please note that they will need to see the final invoice and will not issue payment based upon the estimate. Please advise us if you are awaiting
payment from the DSS.
If requested, we can record the names of those attending the service and provide clients with a printed list. There is an additional charge for this service.
We will be pleased to help compile and place on your behalf death announcements and acknowledgements in both local and national papers. The newspapers will invoice us directly and we will add this to your funeral invoice.
You may wish to have personalised service sheets printed, giving the order of service and hymns. We can design and print these in consultation with the officiating minister and yourself. Please let us know as soon as possible if this service is required.
These service sheets can also have details of where mourners should go after the funeral, if you are planning refreshments. We can also include a photo of the deceased on the front cover. We will be pleased to show you our samples of service sheets and also acknowledgement cards, which can usually be printed within 24 hours.
We work with local florist Jan Burbie, who offers a personal service and will hold floral consultations in your own home, or here at our premises, on appointment. Jan provides a wide range of floral tributes suitable for funerals, from wreaths to coffin sprays, crosses and specialist designs. She can be contacted through our Funeral Directors or directly on 01384 401356 or 07814 321709. The cost for the flowers can be added to the funeral account.
We are also happy to provide details of other local florists who will be able to help with funeral flowers, and who have shops if you wish to look at the types of flowers available to help your decision-making. All florists will deliver either to an address you request, or else to our premises prior to the funeral.
Many people decide to accept donations to charity either instead of or as well as flowers. We are happy to receive donations in memory of the deceased for any registered charities and administer this on behalf of our clients. Charities selected could be one which the deceased was involved in or supported, a charity that supported them (such as the hospice, or a cancer charity) or else one that is just thought appropriate.
Approximately three weeks after the funeral, our clients are contacted to advise that we believe all donations are received and to enquire as to whether they have any to add. When this is finalised, a list of donors and the final total advice is sent to our client. A similar letter is sent to the charity advising them of the particulars of the donations and official receipts are requested.
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Our air-conditioned lounge accomodates 30 people and is tastefully decorated and furnished. It is an ideal place to use where relatives prefer not to start the funeral from a private house. The lounge is separate from our main office, has its own private facilities and has french doors leading out into a secluded courtyard garden, which comes into its own in summer months.
There is no charge for the use of the lounge itself, however should clients wish, light refreshments can be served following the funeral. We ask for 48 hours notice to be given if you wish to use the lounge for refreshments and refer you to the menus available on request, detailing selections and costs. Special diets can be catered for and if you are looking for an alternative selection of food to the menus detailed, we can discuss. Please note that smoking is not permitted in our lounge.
The Lounge is served by two toilets, one of which is wheelchair accessible and has baby-changing facilities. Car parking is at the rear of our premises accessible from our Glebe Lane entrance. There are two disabled parking spaces to the front of our premises and ramps are available for wheelchair access to all areas. We respectfully request that the lounge is vacated 2 hours after your arrival. We can also arrange catering in your own home or another venue. |
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After the funeral is over, there are still areas that we hope we can help you with to complete our service to you:-
If the funeral was a cremation, do call into our office afterwards and select an ashes casket from the wide range that we have available on display. We offer many varieties, from the traditional oak and dark wood caskets, to more ornate, highly polished urns. We have recently increased our range by adding bamboo and wicker caskets and also a biodegradable urn.
If there is something that you particularly had in mind that we do not appear to have in our range, do let us know as we have many others that we can offer. We can also offer caskets for burial of ashes at sea, or small caskets and containers
should you wish to split the ashes into smaller quantities.
We ask that you collect ashes within 3 months of the funeral, but please advise us if you need us to store them for a longer period of time. If there is anything else that we can help you with or advise you on at this time, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
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