Susie McLeay Celebrancy

03/01/2025

31/12/2024

A campaign has been launched to help people in the greater Bristol area feel more comfortable about having conversations around death and dying.

31/12/2024

This dog….

11/12/2024

Don’t be embarrassed by your own strange comforts! Happy Christmas Johnny. How I miss you annoying the life out of me when I’m cooking- and making me laugh til I cried… 💜💜💜

25/11/2024

Did you know we have a dedicated office in Westbury-on-Trym where you can go to discuss your requirements. Here we will be able to help you design an event suitable for your loved one, whether that be a cremation and interment or a burial.

24/11/2024

To my fellow celebrants… is it acceptable to wear a smart overcoat inside when conducting a funeral ceremony? It’s feeezing where I’m going tomorrow and there’s nowhere to leave it if I take it off! Plus… shivering isn’t a great look… 🤣
(This isn’t me btw!)

02/11/2024

26/10/2024

I am privileged to have been asked to conduct personal bespoke ceremonies here, and to know that this is where my son rests, in peace and beauty 💜💜💜

Planning a funeral is one of the most important things you can do for a loved one. Here are Jim’s reasons for choosing Bristol Memorial Woodlands as the setting for a much-loved family member’s burial.

www.memorialwoodlands.com/arrange-a-funeral-in-bristol/

26/10/2024

Beautiful…

Join me on my autumn woodland photography adventures in Tollymore Forest Park, where I capture the stunning Shimna River and vibrant autumn trees. Discover tips for photographing fall foliage and learn about the best times to visit this enchanting destination

19/08/2024

Or you could be that person… if you are, I’m sending 💜💜💜

15/08/2024

7 pounds 10 ounces -
They all asked how much you weighed
And an IQ of 100
Makes you average so they say

9 out of 10 in Monday’s test
Piano to grade 5
2 minors in your Friday test
And now you’re free to drive

85’s the pass mark
So you’d better try your best
And if you’re scoring 90
Then you’re destined for success

But grade five doesn’t tell them
Of your favourite song to play
And how much you love is not defined
By how much you might weigh

Seven pounds won’t tell them
You were born to paint the stars
And your test scores can’t explain
How you have come to bear your scars

Two is not nostalgia
When you drive yourself back home
And it’s not the memories you make
With friends out on the road

Eighty-five and ninety
Aren’t the songs you sing when sad
And they’re not the feeling in your heart
When you get up to dance

One hundred doesn’t tell them
That your favourite month’s September
So when you feel outnumbered
It’s important you remember

You are strength and you are kindness
You’re creative and you’re brave
You are things that can’t be measured,
Can’t be counted, can’t be weighed

You’re a name and not a number
You weren’t born to be a score
So don’t let them quantify you
When you’re made of so much more

********

Just a gentle reminder on the first big exam results day here. You are much more than a score.

Becky Hemsley 2019
Artwork created on Canva

Outnumbered is from my first book https://a.co/d/6JZmaLX

06/06/2024

Having just dissolved in tears, suddenly and without warning at the end of my wind down session of yoga, this poem has made me weep again - but more happily. Thankyou Becky.

There are so many things I have discovered since I had to go.

And I want to share this one with you - I want to let you in on the secret.

You see, I know you feel a sudden pull of emotions sometimes. Those moments when you lose composure and losing me hits you afresh all over again. And it might be at seemingly trivial, inconsequential times like when you’re brushing your teeth or getting into the car for work. Or at 2.30pm on any given Wednesday.

And you won’t really know why but you will suddenly remember me. Not that you’ll have forgotten me, but that I am - in that moment - all you can think about.

Overwhelmingly so.

Well, here’s the secret; that’s because of our heartstrings.

We are connected to everyone we love by invisible, unbreakable threads. And when one of us misses the other person, we only need to pull on those heartstrings to bring them a little closer to us.

Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes we grab desperately at the thread like a life buoy in a storm and our string is pulled so abruptly that it burns.

But it never breaks.

And I just wanted you to know this. So that you can be comforted by knowing that, in the moments when you suddenly miss me the most…

It’s because I am missing you too.

********

Becky Hemsley 2023
Artwork by Shawna Erback

‘Heartstrings’ is from When I am Gone
https://a.co/d/7kMndDJ ❤️‍🩹

27/05/2024

One time I met a man
Who only had a month to live
And I asked him if he had
Any advice that he could give

He said “I wake each morning
Knowing I am going to die
So each day must remind me
I am blessed to be alive

You see, my life’s on countdown
As each hour is unfurled
I know the clock is ticking
On my time here in this world

But what you’re overlooking
Is that it’s the same for you -
You know that I am dying
But forget that you are too

So make the most of sunshine
And go dancing in the rain
And sing a little louder
When your favourite music plays

Notice nature’s colours,
Savour everything you taste
Stop waiting for tomorrow
‘Cause you’ve got no time to waste

And could you say convincingly
That you’d have no regrets?
If just the next few days or weeks
Were all that you had left?”

And then my breath caught quickly
When he turned to me and asked
“Could you say that you died happy
If this day had been your last?”

*****

Becky Hemsley 2023
Artwork by Caspar David Friedrich
(I discovered this artwork on a recent visit to London).

From my fourth collection here: https://a.co/d/9OU8lGH

27/05/2024

Interesting…

13/05/2024

Beautiful reminder for those of us living through dementia with someone….💜

When I am older
I might not remember
I might get confused
And I might lose my temper

And there may be times
When I don’t know your name
Because it’s been trapped,
Locked away in my brain

And though it will hurt
To think I could forget you
Offer me smiles,
Hold my hand if I’ll let you

And talk of adventures
We had long ago
Show me the photos
Of people I know

Play music we’ve danced to
And songs we have sung
Read me the books I read
When I was young

‘Cause your voice and your words
Might just be the key
That opens the door -
That unlocks it for me

And maybe the music
Will spark tiny embers
Of memories dormant
And I will remember

Your name and your face
And the words to our song
The times and the places
To which I’ve belonged

And it might last moments
Or minutes or more
As the fire sheds light
Through the crack in the door

But when the door closes
And gone are the flames
When you are once more
A stranger again

Just know you’ll have stirred something
Deep down inside
Something familiar
That I recognise

Something that’s real
That’s not stored in my head
But right at the core
Of my heart space instead

Something that’s stirred
By your smiles and your stories
The touch of your hand
And the songs you sing for me

And though I’ll have no words to tell you
Just trust
That deep down inside
I’ll remember

I’m loved

*******

Becky Hemsley 2022
Beautiful artwork by Lisa Aisato

Today marks the start of Dementia Action Week - an annual campaign run by Alzheimer's Society to raise awareness of ways we can work together to take action on dementia.

This poem is called Embers and Keys and is in the book 'Letters from Life' https://a.co/d/17LrMHGiww

09/05/2024

For myself, and all the rest of us Vilomahs

today and every day, we honor all of the moms grieving a child🫂