Funeral and Memorial Services
If you are recently bereaved please accept our condolences; our ministry team are here to help you with the practical arrangements. Please first call the Parish Office; if no one is available to take your call please call the Vicarage and leave a message if the Vicar does not answer and he will get back to you as soon as he can. If you would like a member of St James’ or St Margaret’s ministry team to take a service in the church please contact us as soon as possible to check our availability. It helps us if you can make arrangements with us for a service rather than with the funeral director. We will arrange for an organist, if one is required, and can print orders of service. Although the Parish Centre is busy we can sometimes enable you to make a booking to use it after the service if this is required.
Fees
Please note that fees charged for services are Statutory. These include payment to the verger(s) as well as heating and lighting. The church can provide printed orders of service at cost. Please speak with the minister if you would like to avail yourself of this provision. Those for services conducted entirely at the Crematorium and best arranged with your Funeral Director who will liaise with the staff at the crematorium and the minister. the fee for the organist in church is based on the minimum fee set by the RSCM.
Garden of Remembrance
The churchyard has been closed for burial for 150 years but we do have a perpetual garden of remembrance for the interment of cremated remains. Flowers may be left at anytime on the raised gravel-filled beds. While the garden is still in its early years in may be possible to donate a plant in memory of a loved one after consultation with our ‘garden team’.
The names of all those for whom a service is held in the church are recorded in the Book of Remembrance. Their names should be added before the first anniversary and the book is always turned to reveal the next entry by date. The church is open most days from early morning until dusk.
All Souls Service
Once a year there is an opportunity for us to remember those who “have gone before us”. Everyone is welcome and invitations are sent to those who have been bereaved in the last three years. During the service the names of departed loved ones are recalled and, in commemoration, lights are lit from the Paschal Candle.
The service will be held on around the time of All Souls’ Day in St Margaret’s Church, Hemingford Abbots.