Funerals and Interments
Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die"
John 11 verse 25
Organising a Funeral
We understand that a bereavement is a deeply upsetting time for you and aim to support you in this time as well as organising a funeral sensitively and efficiently. We will work to ensure that either one of the clergy or our Licensed Lay Ministers (Reader) is available to meet with you and to take the funeral service of a loved one. These services can take place either in the church itself or at a local Crematorium or Cemetery.
The first step after a death is usually to make contact with a local Funeral Director. The Funeral Director takes responsibility for making all the practical arrangements concerning a funeral, including liaison with the local churches. Once we have been asked to take a service, we will contact you with a view to meeting and discussing the funeral service. We will always try to accommodate your wishes for the service and welcome suggestions as to what you would like included.
Follow up Support
Approximately six weeks after the funeral, a member of our Bereavement Team will be in touch with you. If it is helpful to you, they will arrange to meet with you. In addition to their contact, twice in the year following bereavement we will invite you to our biannual memorial service (usually in May and November). This is an opportunity to continue to give thanks for the person who has died, to pray, and to be with others who have also been recently bereaved. We always have time for a cup of tea and a chat with each other and members of the bereavement team after the service. If at any point after a bereavement you feel in need of extra support then you are always welcome to get in touch with us and we will arrange for someone from the bereavement team or a minister to meet with you.
Burials and Ashes
At St Nicolas, we have what is called a ‘closed’ churchyard. This means that we are unable to provide space for burials unless a double plot already exists and has not yet been filled. We do have a garden of remembrance where you can bury (inter) the ashes of a loved one and can arrange for your loved one to be interred with a relative if wished.
If you wish to organise an interment in the St Nicolas garden of remembrance then please contact the office to make arrangements. If one of the ministers at St Nicolas took the funeral service we will aim to ensure they take the interment as well.
The burial of ashes (an interment) involves a very short time (5 - 10 minutes) where a minister says some prayers and a few words with you before the ashes are buried. You have the option of putting some earth on the ashes if you wish, and we will arrange for them to be completely covered once you have left. After the time with the minister has finished we will give you as much time as you would like in the garden of remembrance.
Please click on this link to view a leaflet with more
information about the interment of ashes at St Nicolas.
We have a book of remembrance in Church where the name of anyone whose ashes are interred in the churchyard can be written with a short message. If you would like to leave flowers we would ask that you leave a pot in the garden rather than leave cut flowers on the spot where a loved one's ashes were interred.
The Fees for 2024
The fees below are the ones paid to the church and apply only to funerals/interments of those aged 16 or more.
Other fees may well be payable to different organisations (e.g. the funeral directors). Please do not assume the fees outlined below are the only ones a funeral will incur, they are merely the ones payable to us. We have only listed fees for the services we frequently take.
A funeral in the church: £261
A cremation or burial offsite immediately before or after a church funeral: £60
Organist fee for a funeral in church: £133
A funeral at a crematorium or cemetery taken by a minister: £254
An interment in St Nicolas churchyard: £226
An interment taken by a minister offsite (e.g. at a cemetery): £109