Debbie Martin - Humanist Funerals & Weddings

03/12/2024

For anyone not feeling it…

The pressure to be merry and bright can have the opposite effect, I know. The thing is, you’re loved. And your peace is worth more than anything you could wrap. ❤️

(From my daily guided journal ‘words to live by’… excited to begin this with you in the new year ❤️)

20/11/2024

I see you , I hear you , I stand with you in love and remembrance 💖💜💚❤️💕🌈🧡🌺.

20/11/2024

Feedback following recent funeral. I’m so pleased to get comments like this. 💜 I really think one of the most important parts of being a celebrant ( maybe the most important ) is listening 💖

15/11/2024

So thankful to receive this feedback today following a recent funeral service.

This work means so much and it feels so important to get it right. 💜🌺

15/11/2024

As a humanist I believe in equality. 🌈💜💖💚

My pronouns are she / her. I will always respect yours.

15/11/2024

Humanism explained 💕💜

Humanism in a nutshell ❤️

14/11/2024

Ooh so next on celebrant challenge is where is my dream ceremony ? 🤩

Well my dream ceremony is assisting each person , couple , family to have their ceremony in a place that is right for them ❤️💚💕🎉🥰🤩

I do love an outdoor ceremony though 💕❤️🧡💚💜💚 and I’ve done them in all weathers 🥰🤩

13/11/2024

Bright colours and odd socks today for a woodland burial for a young man who went too soon. 💖💜

I took along rosemary from my garden which friends and family placed in the grave, for remembrance. 💚

11/11/2024

I’m a member of the Interfaith Contact Group of Brighton and Hove 💕This will be a very special event bringing together people of all beliefs to celebrate friendship ❤️ I’m also singing with The Tone Rangers Choir 💜

Brighton and Hove’s Harmonious and Joyous 14th Annual Service

The Theme: Friendship
The Date and Time: Sunday November 17th, 2024 from 3pm
The Place: St John the Evangelist Church, Knoyle Road,
Brighton BN1 6RB

Please join us for a particularly spectacular and inspirational interfaith service which will be majoring on friendship in many ways.

This year we hope to fill a particularly imposing beautiful church () with readings and a spectacular musical programme which will include two superb, very different choirs - and the Tone Rangers. You can expect to hear some exciting interpretations of familiar and much loved songs, and also some lovely less familiar harmonies. Do bring family... and of course friends.

Local dignitaries and personalities will be participating with ‘Friendship’ readings and once the service has ended, we would love you to join us for our legendary and friendly tea afterwards with a variety of cakes and refreshments

11/11/2024

So following November challenge, what do I find most challenging about this role ? 🤔

I find promoting myself by far the most challenging. 😥. Social media, adverts, getting the word out that a Humanist ceremony can be a wonderful way to celebrate life whether welcoming a new person in to the world, having a completely personal and fabulous wedding or saying farewell to a unique person in the way that is right for them and their family & friends🌺💕🌈

I’m privileged to get to do this work and receive great feedback, so need to get better at the promotion. Here goes 🤩🥰

10/11/2024

💜💖

Those ‘early Christmas decorators’, are doing something clever you know.
They are bringing in more light.

They are seizing the moment, the day, the feeling, and multiplying it.
They are ‘being kind to themselves’, as we so often say one should.

Those early Christmas decorators are not deserving of your anger or your irritation, for they are literally looking after their mental health,
by giving themselves permission to be happy, early.

Remember that this season is not about money, gifts or ‘rules’, it is about goodwill.
So let us all apply that with ‘each to their own’ and ‘whatever makes you happy’ as our mantras.

Life is hard and for many, it has been even tougher than usual.

Let them bring in more light.

Let them cover their world in twinkly joy and wrap themselves up in the festivities.

Instead of berating their eagerness, pat them on the back.
They are doing what we all should,

they are living in the moment.

Donna Ashworth
Art By Joan Stratton


(Delighted to say you can find my seasonal pieces like this in my first ever daily gratitude journal. Available now to pre-order. https://amzn.eu/d/2aUYxLl)

08/11/2024

So continuing November challenge I’m here to say what I love best about being a celebrant 🤩

Where do I start ? 🌺💕🎉

I love that every day is different 😍 I love the flexibility that comes with being self employed 🌺 I love that it means that I can sometimes get to a Zumba class on a Thursday morning, that I can meet a friend for coffee or go to an art class 🎉🌺🤩

I love that I get to go to so many places, different homes and venues , I’m quite nosy … I mean inquisitive … and so I love this 💕

Mostly though I love the people, the clients who trust me with their stories, the other professionals ( I’ve met so many lovely and dedicated people) and celebrant colleagues, who bowl me over with their energy and enthusiasm. 💖🥰

I love working with families, individuals and couples to create personal and meaningful ceremonies. 🥰🌺💖 I love holding space for people and making everyone at a ceremony feel included 💜

I love that my skills and experience as a social worker ( I qualified 30 years ago 😳) and time on the stage ( acting not sweeping) come together in this role 😍

I’m proud to be a part of Humanists UK fabulous network of celebrants, knowing that I have great colleagues that I can call on if needed ❤️ We cover each other in emergencies and we can always find support and advice within the network. We have great ongoing training and a fab conference each year 🧡

What’s not to love ? 🥰








.ceremonies

06/11/2024

I’ve always loved flowers. My mum loved flowers and her mum - my nan - who had very little money would buy herself a little bunch on a Friday after work. My dear mum would always buy flowers for herself and others. It feels like a promise to her to always have flowers in my life and in my home. 💕

I’ve thought at times about becoming a florist, surrounded by flowers each and every day and making up beautiful bouquets and arrangements. It seems so romantic, but I’m sure it is really hard work. I love being a celebrant anyway 💜 and see beautiful flower arrangements in my ceremonies 🤩

I love a workshop, so signed up for a floristry evening class and we had our first session last night. I made this arrangement under the guidance of our fab teacher Nina 🌺💚.

It was so lovely spending a relaxing couple of hours with a group of women playing with flowers and being creative. A great evening and I’m already looking forward to next week. 🌺💕🎉

03/11/2024

So today’s prompt from the lovely is ‘why did you become a celebrant?’ 🤩

Well I was a social worker for many years. I completed my training in Bristol in 1994 and then moved to Brighton. A month after moving my dad died. All I remember of his funeral is that I didn’t know who the vicar was talking about because his words didn’t relate to my dad at all….

As a social worker I worked with people from all backgrounds in many different situations. I loved my last job with a charity, being out and about visiting people, establishing relationships and providing support. Then there was a reorganisation and I, along with most of my colleagues in the welfare team, was made redundant. It was a really difficult and emotional time. I didn’t really want to go back to local authority social work and felt it was maybe time to do something new. Chatting to a colleague she mentioned she might train as a humanist celebrant. 🎉💖

I had around this time completed a quiz online ‘how humanist are you ?’ I have never felt religious or had any belief in anything supernatural. I have always felt we should be good to other people, animals and the world because it’s the right thing to do. I’ve always advocated for others and challenged inequality. The quiz said I was 100% humanist! 🥰

When my colleague mentioned the possibility of training as a humanist celebrant I thought that’s something I could look in to. I had by then attended many funerals that were all quite generic, lots of hymns and not much at all about the person, much like my dad’s service all those years before.

As well as working with people for so many years, being used to listening to all kinds of life experiences, I had also done some acting training and been on stage a number of times, so I was used to speaking in front of lots of people.

I trained as a funeral celebrant in 2017 then later as a naming and wedding celebrant. I absolutely love being a celebrant, listening to peoples life stories and conveying them to others, supporting people to have ceremonies that are right for them 🌺🎉🤩💖💜