Mulberrydays celebrants was started by Tina Bowden in 2007,
16/12/2024
I had the pleasure to conduct a very, very unique service for Gordon Rooney's last week, it was for a real character, a gentleman who had really lived to the full his 90 years of life.
When I visited the family, to help them arrange the service, I was greeted in their front room with over 100 clocks, of all shapes and sizes, as the gentleman loved to collect clocks , plus he loved a Scotch or a Guinness, so he also had a bar in his front room as well! There was much laughter and many smiles as they all told me lovingly all about him.
The chapel at Earlham Crematorium was full to capacity, with all his family and many many friends.
We had music that the gentleman had selected for himself for the service plus some very appropriate poems.......oh and we had to have a clock placed on his coffin as well.
I read a lovely eulogy, which was full of his life stories and anecdotes.....when I had asked the family how many children, the gentleman had had in his life , they all smiled at me and laughed, and said that they really were not sure, but at least 12, they actually said that his children were and I quote 'Like the league of nations, spread all around the globe', perhaps this was partly down to the fact, that they also told me, his car a Volvo estate with Leopard print seat covers, was lovingly known as 'his passion wagon'!
A very full life, lived with both love and passion!
Geoff x
10/12/2024
Hi Tina,
I like to pass on my thanks to Becs for helping us with the eulogy yesterday at mum’s funeral (Hazel Clarke)
She was extremely helpful and considerate in dealing with such a sensitive subject.
Thank you again.
Kind regards,
Martyn and family.
08/12/2024
Friday we said goodbye to a true seaman! A radio officer in the Merchant Navy. 🛳️
The service sheet included Morse code and family and friends all contributed in their own individual ways.
Belvoir House- Brundall Norfolk - a worthy cause indeed. 🪴
Colney Woodland Burial - beautiful as always, even on the darkest days!
Leanne x 🕊️
The Ocean has its silent caves,
Deep, quiet, and alone;
Though there be fury on the waves,
Beneath them there is none.
The awful spirits of the deep
Hold their communion there;
And there are those for whom we weep,
The young, the bright, the fair.
Calmly the wearied seamen rest
Beneath their own blue sea.
The ocean solitudes are blest,
For there is purity.
The earth has guilt, the earth has care,
Unquiet are its graves;
But peaceful sleep is ever there,
Beneath the dark blue waves.
🙏🏼
“Thank you so much Leanne. The support and guidance you provided made a difficult situation much more manageable. Often going above and beyond. We were all so pleased with how dad's day went, and that is massively down to you guys.”
Many thanks
James
Becs is a very caring, kind person who helped me and my family through a very difficult time. S ...
05/12/2024
Earlier this week, I worked with the Howard and the team from RJ Bartram & Son Co-op Funeralcare at the beautiful GreenAcres Living Memorial Parks Colney, to celebrate the life of a lovely lady, who almost made it to her 96th birthday.
Having overcome her tough, Victorian-style upbringing, she became a loving grandmother, who knew what she liked (and what she didn’t) and who moved house more times than many of us could count.
Like the Aran jumpers she loved to knit, her family and friends were all strands of wool in the knitting of her life, and her death is like a dropped stitch, creating a space filled, at least for now, with sadness.
She was married for 68 years. The couple were the love of one another’s lives and used to say, “the longer we’re together, the less time we’ll be apart”. Now they are reunited.
Lovely feedback from the family too “Thank you for all your help and support. You made mum's day so special” Becs
03/12/2024
A lovely email received today...
Dear Pam,
I wanted to send a proper old fashioned physical thank you card to you as an email seems so cold after all you hard work and support. However in the absence of an address this will have to do.
I just wanted you to know that I really appreciated the time you spent with us discovering info about Mum and also the way you crafted her life into such a lovely piece for the service. I apologise for all the tweaks....please forgive.
It must be terribly difficult to condense anyone's life into a short, formal reading but you really did her and us proud and so many people have told us what a lovely and unusual service it was which really helps me as it has meant that she was laid to rest with a smile as well as tears of sadness.
Thank you for everything. Your words of support and encouragement meant a lot.
I wish you and your family every happiness for Christmas and the New Year.
03/12/2024
Its so lovely, when families take the time to say thank you. It
re-enforces the importance and impact, of what we do. 😊
03/12/2024
Short and sweet, another happy family. Feeling proud ☺️
Great communication. Took important points an delivered them in a very personal way.
Great communication. Took important points an delivered them in a very personal way.
02/12/2024
Today’s service was at the beautiful, but wet, GreenAcres Colney, supporting Paul, from Ivan Fisher Independent Funeral Homeswith a woodland burial. Thanks to Kayley, for your support too.
One of the many things I love about my job, is hearing the family stories - that become family ‘legends’. Today’s, was from the 1960s, when J (the lady who’s funeral it was), let her daughters stay up late, and watch Dracula (the Christopher Lee version), as their dad was working nights.
J sat in her armchair, with her three girls on the sofa, next to her. Just as Dracula sunk his fangs into the neck of a poor, unfortunate young lady, having patiently waited for the perfect moment, J surreptitiously leant over, and poked her nearest daughter in the neck, with one of her knitting needles.
The ‘legend’ tells, how the two of them almost wet themselves – one from fear, and one from laughing 😂
Whilst funerals can be sad – they can be a time for smiles, and even laughter, too. Becs
25/11/2024
https://www.justgiving.com/page/tina-bowden-1732549387866
this year Mulberrydays are raising funds for sarcoma UK in memory of our beloved Kate. Please donate if you can, even a pound can make a difference, let's try and help to find a cure. Kate fought so bravely, but this awful disease is relentless, let's try and help to save others in her name.
thank you..
Just giving make no money from your donations, 100% will go to sarcoma UK.
Help Tina Bowden raise money to support Sarcoma UK
24/11/2024
I went to a 60th birthday party last night and the entertainment in the form of a magician was awesome… if you are in the Norfolk area and need entertainment please give him a call, you won’t be disappointed, you will be amazed.
23/11/2024
Yesterday I led a service and burial, for a great dad and really good husband. A man who would do anything for you (happily going ‘out of his way’ to do so) and who could make and fix, anything metal. Created under the car port at home, his beautiful wrought-iron gates, fences, plant stands and weathervanes can be seen all over the city, and gained him the nickname ‘Tin’. Having been a chef in the RAF, he was a skilled cook and loved his food too but, above both metalworking and food, the real love of his life was his wife of 65 years. Standing room only, at Earlham Crematorium, for this much-loved husband, brother, dad, grandad, and friend. The broad age range of those attending was a touching reflection of the impact that this 89-year-old had, on pretty much anyone, who met him. Great to work with James and the team from Peter Taylor Funeral Care again too. Becs
22/11/2024
Mulberry Days Celebrants, are celebrating National celebrants day.
Mulberry Days Celebrants came into being in 2007, the brainchild of Tina Bowden, a registrar for Norfolk County Council who was frustrated at the lack of individual choice offered to couples who were planning a wedding, but also to those organising the funeral for a loved one.
Tina became the first civil celebrant in Norfolk, and over the years has hand-picked a small team of celebrants who offer a bespoke, empathetic service across Norfolk and North Suffolk.
Over the past couple of years, Civil Celebrancy has become a popular career choice, and there are now many individual celebrants to choose from across Norfolk and the UK as a whole.
So why choose Mulberry Days?
Each of our five Mulberry Days celebrants works with Norfolk’s Funeral Directors to create a unique funeral service, or celebration of life, incorporating the wishes of the deceased’s family and friends. As any of the team will tell you, we have had some quirky requests over the years, but this is what makes the job so varied and rewarding. These have included Geoff conducting a service wearing a Noddy Holder hat for a Slade fan; another saw the coffin being garlanded with doughnuts, and on another occasion, flip-flops. At a burial, many families like to cast flowers into the grave, but we have also had requests for Scotch eggs, and cans of Guinness! A service for an ex-teacher, who had a gin and tonic each evening before dinner, saw the guests pause for the period of reflection and each open a small can of gin and tonic in her memory.
More recently, we have played a video from the deceased, with their last message for friends and family during their service, which was particularly moving.
Conducting a service in the knowledge that you have fulfilled the wishes of the deceased and their family is truly gratifying. After all, a funeral service is the last thing we ever do for our loved ones, so it is important to ensure that the details are just right, from the choices of music to readings and poems; from choosing a colour or theme to adding those extra personal touches. When we work with our families, we will begin with a basic template for the service, but then adapt it according to the family’s wishes until it is just right for them.
Our celebrants meet with bereaved families when they are at their most fragile, and when they may be thinking it will be hard to discuss a service and eulogy for their loved one. But often, after talking things through with us, families will say they actually feel better for having taken the time to talk openly, that it is a relief to know they are not having to do everything alone but have us there to hold their hand and offer our guidance. There is often laughter mingled with the inevitable tears during that first meeting…
Our team is unique in that we all work collaboratively, sharing ideas and advice, constantly striving to improve and innovate. Each Mulberry Days member came to celebrancy from a variety of previous professions, so there is a diverse range of in-house experience.
We also offer the reassurance of a team of five celebrants, so that should fate intervene, due to sudden illness for example, there will be another team member who can step up and take over the reins, and who will be fully briefed about the service they are taking on, and who will liaise with the family. This was especially valuable during Covid, as you can imagine.
Your Story
A recent addition to the Mulberry Days repertoire is our “Your Story” service. This enables you to plan ahead for your own funeral service, perhaps when taking out a funeral plan with a funeral director.
A celebrant of your choice meets with you to discuss the personal details of the service you would like, including writing a draft eulogy where you are able to tell your own story rather than leave it to others, at a time which would of course be upsetting for them. The details would then be retained by the Funeral Director and Mulberry Days until required. Although we have been able to do this informally in the past, we can now offer this service on a more formal basis. Based on the experiences of those who have been involved in their own funeral preparation, we have realised that working in this way offers reassurance and peace of mind, knowing that what will be said at your service is created and agreed by you beforehand. As far as we know, Mulberry Days are the only celebrants in Norfolk to offer this bespoke service.
As you’ve probably deduced, Mulberry Days is very much a team, and this means that support and advice is always at hand, especially when planning a more complicated service. Part of the unique role of being a funeral celebrant involves becoming very closely involved with a family or individual during the weeks preceding the funeral, and this can take its toll emotionally. Collectively, we have a vast range of experience to draw upon, as well as being able to offer each other practical support in what can be an emotionally challenging profession. We have regular team meetings to talk through our experiences, to share ideas and resources, and of course, some lighter moments - usually courtesy of Geoff’s dreadful jokes! (Sorry, Geoff).
When you are struggling through the most difficult of times at the loss of a loved one, planning alongside a Mulberry Days celebrant may just help to ease the burden a little, with the security of knowing that the funeral and celebration of life will be professional and caring, tailored to your loved one’s wishes.
Becs is a lovely person who showed great kindness and compassion for me dealing with a terrible ...
17/11/2024
Yesterday it was ‘standing room only’ at St Faiths Crematorium as I lead a service for a ‘larger than life’ man. He was only 51 and, for 30 years, alongside other jobs, worked as a doorman at clubs around Norwich.
He was a hard working, tough, yet loving and gentle man, who loved action movies, cheap sausages, cheesy 80s rock music and his wife (not necessarily in that order). He was also a poor loser, about which his wife said, “for a big bloke, he could certainly ‘paddy’”.
70s and 80s music was the order of the day, including Thunder, Starship and Black Sabbath. Lovely to work with Trevor from Ivan Fisher Independent Funeral Homes Aylsham, too. Becs
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Our Story
Mulberrydays celebrants was started by Tina Bowden in 2007, Tina was a registrar working for Norwich county council and saw that there was a gap in the market for someone to actually give families the funeral service and the wedding ceremony they really wanted. at the time the choices were a humanist funeral with no reference to any type of belief or here after, or a full blown religious service. Tina talked over her idea with a local funeral director (thank you Ivan) who agreed that her ideas were sound and families would be receptive, he also agreed to give her her first funeral service to conduct. The rest as they say, is history. The business took off and soon Tina found herself in such demand that she could not cope with the work load and began looking for that special person to help her, Julie Bates appeared at just the right time and has been working alongside Tina since 2008. the next few years have seen work and reputation increase even more, and so Julie Greenslade, Trish Moss, Liz Radley, Mirian Cooper, all joined her, then the team decided that maybe it was time to let the boys in and the first man or Knight as they like to call him ( mulberry Days, mulberry Knights) Bob Hannam joined the team in 2017 and in Feb 18 another Mulberry Knight joined them, Geoff Patching. Since then we have trained many celebrants who have gone on to work alone and this year, 2019, see’s Pam Wilks joining our team as well. The team continues to grow, but our ethos remains the same.
The team have all been trained by Tina, and the rest of the team also help with the training, so there is continuity right across the team, but each of the celebrants obviously brings with them, their own style, personality and individuality, but each one of them also has the reassurance of a friendly team behind them.
The wedding side of the business has also grown and grown, when Tina first started it was not possible to get married in the open air, now of course most registrar offices have cottoned on to Tina’s way of doing things and they now offer dual ceremonies, where you do the legalities inside and then again outside, but they still do not have the freedom to include many things that couples want to make their ceremony unique and personal to them. Mulberrydays has always maintained the motto and standard that it truly is the couples day, and they have just given hundreds of couples their day in exactly their way.
Tina has conducted some beautiful grand ceremonies in woodlands, on beaches, famous places, and some equally beautiful small intimate ceremonies in peoples homes and gardens in both this country and many countries abroad. Her team are also trained in weddings and they too have conducted many wonderful ones. You only have to read the testimonials on their facebbok or website pages to know how happy their customers are with the way they have helped them.
MulberryDays continues to grow, year by year, hopefully for many more years yet to come.
