About Maria
Medway-based Celebrant providing services throughout Kent,
London Boroughs of Bexley, Greenwich, Lewisham and Bromley,
and the northern most areas of Surrey and Sussex.
Holding close the Essence of your much-loved Entity
Welcome. There are a couple of reasons why you may have stumbled across my website. You are either looking for someone to weave words which will walk you through a loved-one’s life, capturing elements that were so important to them or you are searching for someone who will help you write your own story, leaving your loved-ones in no doubt as to who and what you feel have enriched your life.
Firstly, please accept my condolences. At the very time you may just want to shut yourself away with your own thoughts, you find yourself with seemingly no end of things to do. Let me lighten your load.
Have you ever asked yourself why some people become Funeral Celebrants? Religious Ministers often say they felt a calling to their ministry. It’s often with hindsight that a Civil Celebrant realises that they, too, were on a path to this role.
I have always held an interest in people and I have fulfilled quite a few roles over the years that have equipped me with the skills that, coupled with my character, help me to support people through their significant moments and the ritual of a funeral is, undoubtedly, one of those life transitions that requires considerate handling.
Throughout my life, I have been creative. Using movements or words to choreograph tales of thoughts and emotions.
Over the last forty years I have had the privilege of gaining experience in environments from corporate personnel and training to supporting personal development through community initiatives and my own community-focused Dance group. The last decade has been mainly spent in the NHS, supporting families that live with either Learning Disabilities, Dementia or Cancer. They were all fulfilling roles, supporting people or coaching people in different ways whilst they taught me much about the human spirit.
I have been a Marriage Registrar since 2020 and enjoying the connection with couples as they transition into joined lives made me want to do more for people. This was the point at which I sought a company to coach me in the world of our final earthly transition; our death.
Another thread that has weaved through my life from an early age is poetry; expressing my feelings in verse. Words are one of the main forms by which we, humans share and grow.
I can support you in commemorating and celebrating your departed loved-one with a ceremony you feel will be most fitting. Share the elements of their entity with me and I will help you to capture their essence as you pay tribute to their life at the final farewell.
If you are, for some reason, wanting your own story written, I can help you with that too. After all, you know yourself better than anyone else and I can help you express the memories you want to leave for your family and friends when the time comes.
If you are planning a funeral for a loved-one, rest assured that the ceremony is choreographed to a bespoke script with your loved-one’s essence at the heart of every part of it and steeped in your influence. After the ceremony, you will receive a commemorative script with all the words spoken from all the contributors during the ceremony.
Whether you have chosen a Crematorium Chapel, Cemetery, Natural Burial Ground, Community Space or a Private Space to hold the Memorial, I can support you in creating a beautiful Ceremony and help you find services that will suit your needs.
I grew up within Catholic and non-religious families. After practicing for over forty years, the dogma of the Church drowned out the benefit of a giving and caring community and I since focused on my own spirituality which encompasses many belief systems. I have the deepest respect for the diversity of spiritual, faith and human elements of people’s families and communities. What matters most is the love felt for, and the nature of, the person who has died.
If you, too, have a history with religion, you may be wondering how much of a nod to it, if any at all, you want to make in this ceremony. The fact is you can include whatever you feel it needs. It can be as serene or as entertaining as you want it to be. Let’s have a chat.
