Memorial Service Gives Families Time To Remember Loved Ones
Around 600 people are expected to attend a special memorial service at Derby Cathedral on Thursday December 10 – organised by Derby and Ashbourne family-owned funeral directors, G.Wathall & Son Ltd.
Wathalls hold the memorial service every year – inviting families who have lost loved ones during this and past years as well as representatives from local churches, hospitals and nursing homes.
The early evening inter-faith service will include Christmas carols, readings and finishes with the moving poem by a 13-year-old boy ‘My First Christmas in Heaven’. Families can also hang a wish or token of remembrance on a memory tree.
Donations collected will be made to this year’s chosen charity – the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre in Skegness which celebrates its 125th anniversary next year.
G.Wathall & Son Managing Director Helen Wathall explained: “We organised the first service in 2008 and it has grown every year with some people coming every year to remember a family member – joined by those who have been more recently bereaved.
“Christmas can obviously be a difficult time for families who have lost a loved one – whether that is recently or in the past.
“The memorial service is an opportunity to remember, give thanks and then hopefully be uplifted to enjoy the festive season.
“Families then meet up at the end of the service for a drink and mince pie and have the chance to talk to members of the Derby Dandelions bereavement support group and the Grief Journey Derby programme which we run in the local community to help them through this time.
“Every year we support a local charity at the service and expect to raise around £1,000 for the Derbyshire Children’s Holiday Centre from donations.”
For more information about the service as well as about Derby Dandelions and Grief Journey Derby programme, please call G.Wathall & Son Ltd, Tel: 01332 345268 or visit www.wathall.co.uk