They are not saying that they are expecting her funeral within the next six months, but she's maybe eighty years old and they have never got round to talking with her on these subjects. So the feedback we are getting is that some people can sit down now and begin to talk with an older relative in an unthreatening way about their wishes and their views and what they want. Some people in a family may say something straightforward, such as ''I opt for burial'' or ''I opt for cremation'', and that is the end of it. In our culture, it is perfectly normal for people to plan intensively for a year or even longer for a wedding and make it a really big event. They are quite able to take on board arranging the catering, transport, entertainment and booking venues.
People are able to organize things if they want to.
We want to see a change in that attitude. Funerals originally took place within local communities. The undertaker undertook the funeral, but he was really the joiner and carpenter. So he would physically saw, nail and hammer and make the coffin, the box. Then he would supply the transport, a cart, maybe a handcart that you push, or one pulled by a horse.