Ashes To Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer

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Ashes To Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer

Ashes To Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer

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Diane (Philomena Cunk) Morgan: "A fascinating, poignant, and funny insight into the slightly macabre world of a Council Funeral Officer." Death is a great motivator and, ironically, life coach’ there is so much truth in this. Personally, the more that I’ve spent time considering my mortality and preparing for it, the more I realise what I want to acheive. In this talk, Evie lifts the coffin lid on the world of a council funeral officer, a job that lurches from the legislative and administrative, via the workaday and practical, right through to the emotional and existential. Her stories are sometimes tragic, as with the case of an unidentified woman found on a beach buried without even a name, but often uplifting and occasionally hilarious.

Sometimes tragic, as with the case of an unidentified woman found on a beach buried without even a name, but often uplifting and occasionally hilarious. Ultimately, Evie discovers that her job is more about life than it is about death, funerals being for the living and death being merely a trigger to rediscover a life and celebrate it against the odds. Sometimes you just know that you are going to love a book from the first few sentences and that was absolutely the case with Ashes to Admin. From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada: Ashes to Admin shows how precarious life and death can be. In a gentle and funny tone Evie King highlights both the bureaucracy and the humanity that is behind funerals organised under Section 46. The chapters that follow, poignantly named after some of the individuals whose funerals Evie organised, and whose lives she here respects and honours, are filled with stirring details. Honest on how it feels, as an administrative official, to witness so many tragic lives, troubled lives, and lives that might have been different, and how it feels to be confronted by death so brutally on a daily basis, this is a uniquely absorbing read.Recommended Reads about Race, Racism, and Demarginalizing History - Necessary Non-fiction You Should Read for Life-changing Insights and Impact Best Books Set in the 1920s — from Stories That Shimmer with Champagne and Social Change, to Rip-roaring Reads Covering Crime, Colonialism and Beyond. I am asking because my dad was estranged from his sister, my aunt, who I never met. He had wanted to see her again when he was dying but I didn't know how to find her. However, last year I discovered she had passed away early in 2022 and so sent for her death certificate. Sadly it contains similar words, "causing the body to be cremated" and I suspect the person who did that may have a similar role to yourself. I would like to know where my aunt's final resting place is. I have this slight concern of what if her ashes are unclaimed somewhere. I just want to know she's been laid to rest properly somewhere and to feel she is at peace. It isn't your name on the certificate but I thought you may be able to advise/help me” A compelling read from Evie, articulate and insightful. I’m sure the personal stories of her ‘people’ will stay with me. Some lessons in there too….

Easy read. Felt a little voyeuristic at times and I felt her jokey style a bit off putting. I question how typical her experiences are and whether the fact that Section 46 funerals are just good in her council because she's so invested in it and has a supportive council. I know of others which are not like she describes at all. Ultimately, she will not only explain her role but she will seek to reframe how we view those who end up with what was once called a pauper's funeral, and in turn reframe how we think about our own endings. She also keenly wants to impart the need for preparation and expression of wishes. Hopefully you will leave ready to write your will and live your life out from under the weighty shadow of legacy. It is incredibly uplifting to read the stories of people who, on the outset, look like they have nobody left in the world to care about them, transform into people with well-attended funerals which many might envy. That transformation is often the result of the work of a council worker like Evie in really caring about those who land in her work in-tray; researching, making phone calls, trawling social media and the deceased's home for clues as to who they are and the people who filled their universe in life. Money Matters Neurodiversity Preparing for University - Subject Reading Lists Reading For Pleasure Stationery What happens if you die without family or money? The answer to this very three-in-the-morning question is that Evie, or someone like her, will step in and arrange your funeral. Evie is a local council worker charged with carrying out Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act. Or to put it in less cold, legislative language; funerals for those with nobody around, willing or able to bury or cremate them.

Summary

As someone who works at a Council and studied death culture at university, it was probably inevitable that I would find Ashes to Admin immensely enjoyable. King makes you consider the pros and cons of age. Referring to one of her people ‘ She had evidently, at 99 years old, outlived everyone. A downside to longevity that people sometimes don’t consider, and something that is striven for blindly in our life-at-all-costs culture.’ This really jumped out at me, as I often feel that people focus on lifespan and not the value and quality of life we have. Imagine a life without the presence of family or friends; you sadly pass away alone and your life remains unrecognised, neglected as if never to be heard again. Thanks to Evie King an inspiring local council worker in charge of carrying out Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act, these individuals’ lives are not forgotten (and other Council Funeral Officers of course!). Every effort to admit latecomers will be made at a suitable break in the event, but admission cannot always be guaranteed.

History Makers: Female Writers Dominate the 2023 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award Shortlist When few details are known about the deceased, King then embarks on a search for any existing family, friends, colleagues, documentation, etc who can shed light on the dead person's life and thereby help her to tailor the funeral service to what the deceased would have liked, or what seems the most appropriate and pleasing. Where this becomes impossible is when either the deceased has no apparent family or their identity is unknown. This is where King comes into her own, setting out on a mission to find out whatever she can about them, using all the means at her disposal and some inspired methods of her own. She doesn't always succeed, but it's heartening to see the lengths to which she goes and the effort she puts in. A remarkable book about a job that most of us don’t realise exists by a woman who chose to throw her heart and soul into it. Philosophical, funny, tragic and intriguing. This has to be made into a prime-time TV drama' – Richard Herring Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown

Evie King is the pen name of Christina Martin. She is a former stand up comedian and a part-time writer. She has always written short form pieces, in the margins of her various day jobs, contributing to New Humanist, Guardian Comment is Free, BBC Comedy and Viz Comic. Since moving to the seaside and going part-time she has had more time for writing which has accumulated in Ashes to Admin. Read on for a remarkable discovery into our world of mourning and sorrow through King’s compassionate words! As is noted by radical undertaker Ru Callender in What Remains?, the UK funeral industry can be a expensive minefield. Ashes to Admin shows the consequences of the costly world of funerals. To be responsible for a funeral increasingly can cause people to get into debt. Funeral poverty is a growing issue, and can be one of the reasons why people will receive a Section 46 funeral; families can simply not afford it. A huge amount of shame comes with not being able to give family member a ‘proper’ send off. King's book is enlightening for readers in respect of what a "Council Funeral" actually entails. One of her cases is that of a man whose family, are in receipt of benefits, as was he, and who are devastated by the thought that their loved one will receive only a cheap, perfunctory send-off because even collectively they couldn't afford anything more. In fact, the reassuring truth is that a Section 46 funeral may have fewer frills than other funerals, but it is still every bit as respectful and dignified. Death is something we all have in common so I'm always up for a book about it and this one (obviously) has it in (gravedigger) spades. It's a poignant, sometimes difficult, bizarre, and yet incredibly uplifting read. Evie King is a council worker charged with sorting out Section 46 funerals - funerals for those with no one or no one able or willing to do so on their behalf. Alongside dealing with the standard complaints we expect the council to deal with (bin collections, noise, dog poo, etc), she sees humanity, life, and death in all its strangeness. It's a job that encompasses plenty of persistent detective work, grief counseling, the obvious (and not so obvious) admin, and a tonne of empathy.

What happens if you die without family or money? The answer to this very three-in-the-morning question is that Evie, or someone like her, will step in and arrange your funeral. Each chapter is a case referred to her. King writes with love and humour about the accompanying frustrations and emotions as she goes above and beyond to give everyone a dignified goodbye. To ensure no one is alone when they're buried or cremated and to bring the dead to life so that we know them and their story. We learn about the endless admin hoops King has to jump through. The strange practicalities. That death is of course not 9-5 so the work isn't either. That people can be awkward but also wonderful. And that everyone has a story. Reminiscent of Adam Kay but in a glorious world all of its own, this made me smile a lot and also cry. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not sad about it. I once Tweeted: ‘woke up at 11am, Curly Wurly for breakfast, now off to watch Buffy in the bath. Ask me again if I regret not having kids’. I still stand by that and will happily die alone on that hill.” Evie King is a local council worker charged with carrying out Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act. Or to put it in less cold, legislative language; funerals for those with nobody around, willing or able to bury or cremate them.

LoveReading Says

There's plenty to learn in this gently uplifting book. Some of Evie King's cases will make you cry, others will make you angry, and some will make you smile - or even *laugh*. Above all, there's nothing morbid or depressing about this book - unless you count the behaviour and attitudes of some of the deceaseds' family members.



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