A Lovely Ceremony

Thank you once again for your help in putting together mum's life story. It was a lovely ceremony and a lot of the mourners told me how much mum would have wanted a service like the one you delivered. Thank you so much.

Thank you for the wonderful job that you did on Tuesday

We were so happy that the ceremony went according to plan and that everything ran so smoothly. Your detailed script brought our memories alive and despite the obvious sadness it certainly felt like a celebration of Laura’s life.

Many family members and friends commented on how beautiful the service was and how your calm and confident delivery brought comfort to the occasion, thank you again.

Attentive & Compassionate

When mum passed away, we knew that she would have wanted a celebrant rather than other religious formality. Having been given Lucy’s details we also made our own enquires about her work. The family met with Lucy to arrange mum’s service. We were first struck by her warmth and sensitivity. Lucy’s calm demeanour easily puts you at an ease, even given the circumstances of your meeting. Lucy notices the little things within a person's nature and picks up on things that just made the service that more personal to mum. Her inclusion of younger members of the congregation was particularly well received and made them feel at ease. Her attentive nature and compassion are a credit to her. Her organization and running of the service made you feel you were in safe hands and did not need to worry about how things would go.

Lucy talked to us about our loved one but most importantly, she listened

Lucy was the celebrant used for our dear father’s ‘celebration of life’ and we couldn’t have chosen anyone more fitting or professional. From our very first meeting she put us all at ease. Her calming and warm nature was so soothing during what was and remains a truly difficult time. Lucy talked to us about our loved one but most importantly, she listened. She showed great empathy and took time to check and re-check even the smallest of details because she understood the importance. This was borne out in the beautiful service she led on the day. We can’t thank Lucy enough for the support she gave us as a family and we would have no hesitation in recommending her to you.

Like a Sunbeam: Warm, Steady and Full of Light

When I first met Lucy in June 2023, I found her to be incredibly passionate about her work. She was warm, easy to talk to, and deeply devoted to the individuals and families she supported. We spoke about each other’s families – I mentioned that I was a carer for my beloved Grandma who was living with dementia.

After our call was over, I remember thinking, “When Grandma dies, I want Lucy to be the one to conduct her service.” My Grandma, Joyce, was 92 at the time. Unfortunately for me and my family, that moment came all too soon. In the early hours of the 29th December, Joyce Patricia Lowles died peacefully.

When my family and I started to discuss the kind of service my grandma would have, I told them about Lucy and described her “vibe”; heartfelt, contemplative, compassionate, and something a little out of the ordinary. Something a little special.

Co-op Funeralcare arranged the funeral for us and reached out to Lucy first. Lucy called me on the way home from our meeting with them and it was like picking up the phone to a dear friend. I knew I wouldn’t have to put on a brave face or pretend we were “doing OK”. Lucy expressed her sorrow for our family’s loss. She remembered grandma well.

She travelled over from Macclesfield to Leek to meet with us and spent hours chatting with us about Grandma, learning about her history, her life, and what made her special. My youngest sister had returned to Glasgow, so she was beaming in via Zoom. Lucy took everything in her stride and absorbed more information than I care to imagine!

During this meeting, Lucy also offered invaluable advice on how to arrange the service and how we could make it our own. For example, she suggested that we move to stand around the casket towards the end of the crematorium service, so we could be closer to grandma while we said goodbye. It’s one of those things that you probably wouldn’t think about or even think to ask for, but as soon as Lucy suggested it, I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way.

Over the next few weeks, Lucy worked closely with me to collate material from almost a dozen family members. She was so patient and flexible, weaving together historical backgrounds, poems, stories and requests with a level of editorial magic that made me, a professional writer, wonder at how she was doing it. She was more than responsive; she became a very gentle, incredibly compassionate project leader. She understood how important it was for me and my to get everything right, and she worked tirelessly to achieve it.

On the day of the funeral, it was such a relief to know Lucy was going to be there with us. As soon as I saw her in her gorgeous flowery dress (the dress code was “springtime floral”!) with her beautifully monogrammed leather folder, I knew everything was going to be OK. It meant we could focus on the unimaginably difficult task of saying goodbye to Joyce Patricia Lowles. The eulogy that Lucy had written was astonishing in its richness, consideration, and heartfelt sense of joy. It was like she’d known grandma personally, and through Lucy’s words she was brough to life in all our minds.

After the service at the crematorium, Lucy accompanied us to The Old Chapel Etruria – a gorgeous funeral space in Stoke – for the celebration of life. Again, she led the proceedings with poise, compassion and warm good humour. She helped guide people through the moments of sadness, joy, and everything in between like a sunbeam; warm, steady and full of light.

After the celebration of life, Lucy stayed to eat with us and chat with my family and I. There were 30 or so people there, and I think she managed to speak to every single one! Finally, after what must’ve been over 5 hours of supporting me and my family and doing my grandma more justice than I could’ve ever hoped, she hugged me goodbye and prepared to head out. Before she left though, she handed me 2 bound copies of the full service, complete with gorgeous embossing and her own beautiful branding. I had no idea she offered such a thing to families but I realised in that moment how much I’d want a copy of her beautiful words, alongside mine and my family’s.

In the weeks and months after the service, Lucy kept in touch and also sent me a beautiful little card, featuring her Present Ascent artwork on the front, with a gorgeous little heartfelt message inside.

I think one of the many things that make Lucy and her work so special is that she understands loss. The fact she’s willing to share her own personal story with the world makes it easier for people to open their hearts up to her. She never once spoke about her own personal experiences (unless prompted to), as I believe she likes to keep the focus on the people she’s supporting, but the fact she’s open-hearted and realistic about loss reassures you that you’re safe with her.

Lucy has that rare gift of being deeply comfortable with and unafraid of silence. I could chat with her until the cows come home but equally, she’s happy to sit with you while you find your words; or find that the words aren’t there, and the silence is more than enough. She is simply an incredibly calming presence – being with Lucy and being supported by her is, I think, inherently healing.

Thank you, Lucy, for everything.

We will be forever grateful

Lucy was excellent. She was so sensitive to our emotions during a tough time. She organised so much from so many friends and family members who wanted to contribute and did so sensitively and almost immediately! We never had to wait on a response and she proactively kept in touch to ensure we had the support we needed. She put together a wonderful presentation for the service and we will be forever grateful.

Lucy embraced us through this really important time

We were introduced to Lucy by Percival, our recommended Funeral Director after the passing of our much loved spouse and Mum, Margaret. The impact of losing a spouse or parent is significant in every respect. For the cremation service, we preferred the support of someone to read the words we wanted to say. It was key that we liked the person and we took to Lucy straight away. She made the time to understand all our circumstances, feelings, realities, calling more than once to check how we were doing and came to the house to talk with us, get to know us and worked with us on the structure and order of our preferred service so that the flow was right, the timing accurate and that at no stage did we feel rushed. We worked together on the hymn and song choices, including the specific versions we wanted to be able to more accurately reflect Mum being Welsh and Lucy was diligent to adapt to our iterations.

Ultimately Lucy wasn't just someone who spoke the words we wanted her to say. She has been integral to our being able to craft a service for Mum, Margaret of which we have all been very proud. It has been the best reflection of an amazing woman and we are thankful that Lucy embraced us through this really important time. We will forever be grateful to have met Lucy and will work with her again without reservation.

Lucy made a sad day quite wonderful

Lucy was recommended to us by Dodgsons (who also get a 5 star). Lucy was kind, organised and thorough. Lucy ran the service and made it look effortless but that is because she covered every detail. She timed and knew each of our presentations (in case she had to step in). Lucy took time to speak personally to those involved, including a zoom call with me in America. She helped us coordinate with Dodgsons in Knutsford and guided us with examples or poems, music, etc. Plus Lucy is just a lovely person. I would highly recommend her. Lucy - thank you, you made a sad day quite wonderful.

Calmness & Kindness

Our thanks go to Lucy for being such a wonderful celebrant at my brother’s funeral. We feel very lucky to have had her officiate at Altrincham Crematorium. She is in the perfect job, with a wonderful calmness and kindness about her - qualities which are so needed working with families going through a loss. My Mum (for whom the service was difficult in so many ways) was so impressed by her leadership of proceedings and I think we managed the right balance of content - Lucy’s guidance on that was so helpful.

Great care in every detail

I was recommended by R W Percival's to have Lucy to conduct Aunty's Mary's funeral. l cannot praise Lucy enough. Lucy was so compassionate and very caring she was very professional and took great care in every detail of the funeral. l cannot thank Lucy enough she was amazing.

Everything Happened Smoothly

I wanted to write and personally thank you. The day went very well and everything happened smoothly. There was much laughter during the service which is what we wanted, and your delivery and conduct were warm and professional. I couldn’t have asked for anything more, from the way you related to us when we met for the first time, to the service itself.

Warm & Empathetic

Lucy was recommended to us by RW Percival and we are so grateful that they did. Lucy is a charming, warm and empathetic person for whom nothing is too much trouble. From our initial meeting to the subsequent contacts regarding the order of the service and the text that she had prepared, we were guided and reassured along the journey. Lucy took time to check in to make sure that we were OK and even her much welcome hug of reassurance when we arrived at the crematorium, were definitely what we needed at this very sad time. Lucy captured beautifully the spirit of our father and we were soothed by her beautiful delivery. Thank you so much, Lucy.

Kind, Warm, Empathetic & Organised

Lucy was the celebrant at a recent family funeral and I highly recommend her and her services. Lucy is kind, warm, empathetic, organised. All the qualities we needed to guide us through creating and delivering a service that we felt did justice to our family member. What you need at difficult times is to speak to people who can help, guide you gently to make the difficult decisions and step you through the process. Lucy did all that and more. Thanks for all your help, Lucy.

Forever Grateful

Thank you, Lucy, for the perfect service for our dad. You were absolutely amazing and described him as the person he truly was. We are forever grateful.

Supportive & Welcoming

Thank you Lucy - I cannot think that anyone could have been more supportive and easy to communicate with. A couple of our friends also said how welcoming you were today. ‘Nobody does it better’. Many thanks.

A Personal Service

I would like to say, on such a very difficult day, you made the day a lot easier for me. Everyone who attended to say goodbye to Tony said how personal his service was and that's because of you, Lucy. You made me feel very comfortable and I felt I could share my memories of Tony with you. Thank you again.

I Would Highly Recommend Lucy

Lucy is extremely professional and very caring. She has a true passion for making everyone feel special and comfortable, with what can be a very difficult and emotional time. I would highly recommended Lucy; I recently attended a funeral of a close family member and Lucy's service was very special. She felt like one of the family, paying very kind respect to a fantastic man in the families' lives. Thank you Lucy.

Peaceful, Joyous & Moving

I can truthfully say I've never experienced such a peaceful, joyous and moving funeral celebration. Lucy's presence was like a loving and calm hug around everyone, and especially the close family. A very, very special day indeed, that was a beautifully guided celebration.

Kind, Calm & Composed

It was unbelievably sad for me and my family to arrange my husband's funeral but with Lucy's help, the service was beautiful - full of love and just how we wanted it. She was kind, calm and composed and created an environment that made it easy for us all to talk about Phil in a way we wanted to. She gave us time to think and talk and we so appreciated that. She was always there to answer questions and nothing was too much trouble. We had so many comments afterwards about how beautifully she led the service. Thank you Lucy.

It was a very special day

From the moment I met Lucy, I felt we were in safe hands. She guided us through the planning of Dad's funeral with great care and compassion, listening closely to our wishes to create a ceremony that was the perfect celebration of Dad's life. Listening to our stories of dad, she quickly understood who he was. On the day, she was a calm presence, ensuring the service was delivered in the way we wanted, down to the last detail. She created an environment in which we felt able to celebrate and mourn Dad in equal measure, family and friends all together. It was a very special day. I couldn't recommend her highly enough.

Support, Kindness & Attention to Detail

Thank you, Lucy, for your support, kindness and attention to detail in the planning and delivery of Mum’s funeral. It was really such a lovely service and it meant such a lot to us to share memories of our Mum with our wider family - some of whom only knew her in recent years.

Dignity, Respect & Love

Lucy was absolutely instrumental to the ‘feel’ of the whole service and I wholeheartedly believe she was the most perfect celebrant for Dom’s Day. The love was palpable in the room. She performed the ceremony with dignity, respect and love. The way she processed all we had shared about Dom was perfect. It flowed beautifully. We really can’t thank her enough.

I Felt So Supported and Comforted

We were so blessed to find Lucy! When we saw her waiting for us at the crematorium I felt so supported and comforted. We couldn’t have done this without her. I will always look back on Nanna’s funeral as a perfect celebration for her. Having experienced a very traumatic bereavement when we lost our Mum very suddenly 20 years ago, it was so important to my sister and I to feel ‘present’ this time and be a part of the arrangements and with Lucy’s care and support, we achieved this and I can’t thank her enough. It was incredibly healing to plan such a beautiful ceremony with Lucy as I felt able to say goodbye to our Mum too along with our Nanna. I felt we were able to care for Nanna until the very end which was really important to us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Lucy for your guidance, support and calm presence.

The Safest, Most Capable of Hands

From the moment I contacted Lucy to be the celebrant at our dear Nanna's funeral, I felt comfortable, knowing we were going to be in the safest, most capable of hands. Lucy not only wrote a thoughtful, personal, poignant and touching eulogy for our Nanna, but helped us with the running order of the funeral service, suggesting music choices, readings and poems as well as drawing our attention to details that we hadn't even considered. At such a sad, difficult time, when there's so much to organise, process and do, organising a funeral can feel like a monumental and incredibly overwhelming task, and yet with Lucy's help, it actually felt enjoyable - we looked forward to our meetings with her—nothing was ever too much trouble—and she listened carefully to our stories and memories of our Nanna with interest and compassion. On the day of the funeral, as we said our final farewell to our Nanna, knowing Lucy would be there to lead and deliver the ceremony felt like a big weight off our shoulders. We felt safe and comfortable knowing Lucy was at the helm, leading the way. We couldn't recommend her more. Thank you, Lucy!

A Perfect Celebration

I had asked Lucy to provide her service as a Funeral Celebrant at my father’s funeral. Ultimately she delivered the perfect celebration whilst being extremely supportive along the way. From the outset it was clear she was passionate about her work and wanted to do her very best for us. During the initial meeting she quickly put me at ease and because of this a relationship was built that allowed her to glean all the information she needed. Two way communication continued frequently up until the funeral and during that journey nothing was too much trouble for Lucy. She always replied with thought and much sooner than I would have anticipated. When draft and final scripts were presented I was delighted, whilst they inevitably pulled at the heartstrings, it was the ideal balance of factual information and personal memories. Within the Order of Service Lucy had helped select some readings, because I didn’t have any in mind, and it was clear they were selected given what she had learned about dad because they resonated perfectly. On the day Lucy was a total professional who demonstrated respect for dad and was friendly and empathetic with my family and me. The service was delivered clearly, with great timing and it didn’t feel rushed at all. Thanks to Lucy I was proud of the way in which we were able to share dad’s story, it was extremely fitting and I couldn’t have hoped for a better celebration of dad’s life.

Thank you Lucy

Thanks Lucy for making it such a special ceremony and making everything much easier than I thought. Very much appreciated.

Compassionate & Professional

Lucy recently delivered a memorial service for my Dad, who died suddenly and unexpectedly. Lucy was compassionate, professional and guided my family and I brilliantly through the whole process, during what has been a traumatic and stressful time. Lucy truly listened to what we wanted for a service as a family, and guided us expertly through the process. I would not hesitate to highly recommend Lucy if you are looking for someone extra special.

Patient, Sensitive & Caring

Lucy conducted a beautiful ceremony for my Mum recently. She was especially patient, sensitive and caring thoughout the process. At the same time her attention to detail and professional approach ensured that everything ran smoothly on the day, leaving us all with the feeling that we had said goodbye to our Mum in the best way we could. Thank you so much Lucy.

Calm & Serene

Rob & I just wanted to add our thanks for the truly beautiful service you conducted — you were simply amazing! Your calm and serene demeanour helped us all to hold it together, cry when we needed to, but also enjoy it for what it was; a celebration of a life well lived and loved by his family — surrounded by love.