This text is based on various funerals I have done, and is meant to be ADAPTED to the particular circumstances of the person who has died and those they have left behind. As you know Jane Cook died [day, time, place, and usually brief description of the circumstances]. Jane was important to each of you in different and very special ways as a wife as a mother and grandmother as a sister as some other family connection or as a friend And today you have come here with your love and your care and your respect We will say a kind of goodbye, today But there is a sense also in which we say hello Because while we say goodbye to the kind of connection we have had with Jane , we will also try to strengthen our memories today And say hello again to the Jane who lives on within us in our hearts and minds This is a time for expressing our sorrow at her death and for trying to comfort those who were closest to her But mostly this is a time for celebrating her life There will be an opportunity later in the service for anyone who wishes to come forward to say a few words, perhaps to share a memory or a sense of what Jane meant to you we will talk of her life and then we will commit her body to be cremated and end the service by taking the casket out to