Published 19/01/2021
by Vicki Barlow
We talk to Funeral Directors, Arrangers and Team Members every day and from what you've told us, one of the hardest things for you has been saying no to families; no to the number of mourners, no to funeral cars, no to collection plates at the funeral. Saying no at a time when people are at their most vulnerable and trying to arrange the funeral their loved ones wanted must be so difficult, unimaginable for us. One Funeral Director in Newcastle even told us they had been so saddened by all the things they could not do for families now that they had taken up knitting little flowers and adding them to the memory boxes they give to the family after the service. Not surprising really that you would find your own ways to give something back; testament to the professionalism and compassion in the industry.
One of the hardest things for us here at funeral-notices.co.uk was feeling helpless as we watched the pandemic not only rip through our communities but also affect our friends, peers and clients within the funeral industry.
At the same time, we were increasingly hearing from members of the public directly, increasing the number of online notices they placed with us as well as notices in print titles. Recognising that people still wanted to talk about their lost loved ones, we created an online memoriam to the
The UK Victims Of Coronavirus (Covid-19) which has received almost 76,000 views and 1,315 tributes, memories, candles and photos so far. Many of the tributes we received encouraged us do more to help the bereaved, so we decided to help both you as Funeral Directors and the wider public by offering online notices free for the duration of the pandemic.
We've talked about free online notices before, but never talked about the reasoning behind the offer.
Inspired by your own resilience and compassion, we too want to go the extra mile for families. Our experience over the last year has taught us that families still want to tell the stories of their loved one's life, taking us back to times of old when an obituary was more about the person and less about the funeral itself.
We are really pleased with the number of free online notices we have provided to your families so far but as the pandemic continues to deny people aspects of the traditional funeral, we need your help to make sure families are able to honour their loved one's legacy by announcing their passing on funeral-notices.co.uk, for free.
One of the key things we want to offer your families is an opportunity to formally announce the passing of their loved one on an informal platform that compliments modern social media platforms. Of course, we understand it is free to announce the passing of a loved one on Facebook and we know many people choose to do that. Our fear is that we have a generation of people without a dedicated page to their loved one to store and share their memories and easily return back to to mark anniversaries, birthdays or just to share what you've been up to that day in a tribute. We don't want money to be an obstacle to people creating that place on funeral-notices.co.uk so we made them free, if booked through you as their Funeral Director.
We've talked in the past about the many ways an online notice can benefit your families and would love to show you an example of a free online notice booked by Jukes Funeral Services for the late
Geoffrey Parkinson so you can see for yourselves.
In a word, yes!
But that's not what we are about.
We are here to support you and have created the funeral-notices.co.uk community with Funeral Directors at the heart of everything we do. We know that you have been at the centre of your communities through the pandemic and it is you on the front line having to pass on restrictions and directives from the Government to grieving families. It is right then that you benefit from the free online notices we are offering by being able to offer your families something they may have thought they could not have; a welcome yes instead of a no!
Online funeral notices are also an invaluable marketing tool for Funeral Directors, with every online funeral notice linked to your brand and listing information on funeral-notices.co.uk as well as helping you to offer online donations without the need of a subscription donation provider.
We would love for you to offer an online notice for every funeral you arrange. It would help us to achieve our goal to ensure as many families as possible do not miss out on announcing the passing of their loved one just because we find ourselves living under the restrictions of this pandemic.
Please help us ensure no family misses out on announcing the passing of their loved one by offering a free online notice for every funeral you arrange.
You can book your free online notices using our self serve booking system
here. We have put together a useful guide to booking online notices
here.
Online notices may also be booked by emailing (fdteam@funeral-notices.co.uk) or calling the dedicated Funeral Director Team on 03444 060276 (please request free online only).
If you would like more information on free online notices please contact us below and an Account Manager will be in touch:
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