Claire Elford Hewitt - Civil Funeral Celebrant

17/07/2026

Dying is difficult, a nurse told me. It might have been even more appalling had Dad not been clear about his wishes. Yet most of us remain deeply reluctant to outline how we want the end to go

07/07/2026

You are dealing with a lot right now. Lean on loved ones, and try not to look too far ahead, says advice columnist Annalisa Barbieri

12/06/2026

Who said funerals couldn’t be interesting, environmentally conscious, fun or elegant.

Day 2 at the

Hearse alternatives, coffin weaving, fungi/hemp coffins and urns.

11/06/2026

At the today and tomorrow.

Really great to see and learn. The urns and coffins made from hemp/fungi, and the coffin weaving demos were day 1’s highlights.

Also great to catch up with my fellow celebrant Tony.

22/05/2026

🐝 Today we remember the 22 innocent lives lost in the Manchester Arena Attack, and stand with every family, friend, survivor, and community member forever affected by that tragic night.

Gone but never forgotten.
Manchester will always stand strong together. 🐝🕊️

please feel free to share this post of remembrance 🕯️

15/04/2026

Sharing in case of interest - this Sunday, Cheshire.
Further details in the comments.
(Not a direct recommendation).

25/02/2026

Claire was amazing, so understanding and the service was just perfect, everyone said that it was fitting and she was brilliant at conducting the service, she made it so easy for the whole family ♥️🥰♥️

24/02/2026

This might sound strange but as humans, we are built to handle grief.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy and it doesn’t mean it doesn’t knock us sideways and kick our backsides. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t change us forever.

But grief is not a design flaw. It is part of the human blueprint.

As deeply as we are able to love, fiercely, unconditionally, wholeheartedly, we also grieve with the same intensity.

The two are inseparable.

We are not meant to get over grief, we are meant to live with it, grow around it, walk alongside it and carry it.

How that looks is different for each of us.

Some people talk.
Some people go quiet.
Some move their bodies.
Some sit still.
Some need community.
Some need solitude.

We all do it differently but there is something powerful in realising we are not broken because we grieve.

We are human.

And somewhere within us, even if we cannot feel it yet, is the capacity to hold both love and loss at the same time.

That is not weakness.

That is the deeply profound and powerful human experience we all go through ❤️

23/02/2026

I can't thank you enough for all you have done, the service was brilliant and made everyone feel at ease at last.

Thank you once again for making it so much easier for us to get through the service, you were amazing.

09/02/2026

A great post by Funeral Celebrant Kate

Have you thought about your digital/social media legacy?

A little bit of life admin led to a wake-up call.
Have you ever put off a conversation about what happens to your social media and digital assets after you’ve gone?

I did—until a recent memory jolted me into action.

As part of my celebrant training, we discussed how families often want access to a loved one's social media, digital photographs, or videos. It’s a modern way of preserving a legacy, but it can be a nightmare to navigate if nothing is in place.

So, in March last year, I took the leap to put something in place for myself. I nominated my "nearest and dearest" as my legacy contact for all the information stored on my mobile devices—messages, photos, apps, and files.

But here was my wake-up call... I realized I hadn’t actually told them. I was waiting for the "right time" to have the conversation and simply let it slip. I’d done the digital admin, but I’d missed the human connection.

Realizing I’d only made a partial start, I revisited the Digital Legacy Association website. It’s an excellent resource to get you thinking about what’s right for your own digital footprint.

I highly encourage you to take a look:

🔗 https://digitallegacyassociation.org/for-the-public/

Have you nominated a legacy contact yet? Or, like me, are you still waiting for the "right time" to talk about it?