Frances Tulley – Civil Celebrant
Our next Civil Celebrant we would like you to meet is the warm and caring Frances Tulley..
I have lived and worked in Brighton for 28 years although I was born and raised in Croydon and lived in Godstone, Surrey for ten years.
My family and 15-year-old Jack Russell have our home in Fiveways, Brighton.
My previous career was in dental hygiene, where I developed a special interest in working with people to reduce their anxiety and fear of dentistry, and trained others in working with anxious patients. For this, I twice received Dental Hygienist of the Year awards. I also have a Diploma in Holistic Aromatherapy.
I was brought up in a strict Christian family, but for the past 45 years have followed my own spiritual path of respect for our world and for each other. I have a very open approach to people’s beliefs and a philosophy of tolerance.
I have lost both parents, ex-husband, family members and several friends, and have witnessed grief and sadness in different ways. I took an active role in arranging my father’s funeral five years ago; my interest in funerals, and what makes a good funeral, grew from that.
I believe that funerals should be people-centred. There is a growing movement towards families being more ‘hands-on’ and taking an active role in funeral arrangements and creating ceremony. This is a tremendously important part of the grieving process and I actively encourage families to get involved as much as possible. Often, all that is needed is permission; there is no right or wrong way. A little guidance and help from me can go a long way to making a unique, warm and beautiful ceremony.
I qualified as a celebrant in 2015 with a NOCN Level 3 Diploma in Funeral Celebrancy (QCF) and have since carried out around 200 funerals.
I am a member of AOIC, The Association of Independent Celebrants, http://independentcelebrants.com which encourages continuous professional development and provides support and mentoring for celebrants, and am also a member of The Natural Death Centre, which is a charity that carries out excellent work helping people to make informed choices when someone dies.
The Good Funeral Guild fosters a spirit of community among people interested in end-of-life matters and funerals http://goodfuneralguild.co.uk and for the last two years I was privileged to be a finalist in the Celebrant of the Year category at the Good Funeral Awards.
The taboo and fear of talking about death in our society is slowly beginning to change. I hold regular Death Cafes at different locations in Brighton, and recently in Hastings, to encourage people to enter into such discussions, and to start taking control of their own life (and death). If you are interested in coming along I can put you on my mailing list.
This is the most rewarding work I have ever done. It is such a privilege to help people through what can often seem like an impossible hurdle at a time when their world is thrown into chaos and intolerable grief.
If you would like to talk to me about planning any aspects of a funeral please get in touch –
Phone: 01273 248750
Email – frances@ftcelebrantservices.com
Web – www.ftcelebrantservices.com
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/funeralcelebrantservices