Lisa Hughes | Funeral Celebrant

My name is Lisa Hughes and I am your funeral celebrant in Hampshire, Southampton. I have lived in West London for most of my life but decided I needed a change, so I moved to the fresh air of the south coast.

I am 58 years old and married to Patrick (Patsy) Hughes. Between us we have five children now all grown up. Most of my working life has been spent within two genres. I have taught musical theatre all of my life and both my daughters Have gone into the professional world of performing arts. I am also a choir master/mistress and have won countless competitions with my talented students. Some have gone on to work in the West End, others have joined cruises.

My working background is in mental health, I worked for West London Mental Health for many years helping create a unit for young people who had committed a crime and then been sectioned under the mental health act. I also worked with some of the service users who suffered from a variety of illnesses. Sadness seemed to be something they all struggled to deal with. I always got great satisfaction helping them accept and come to terms with their individual problems, helping them find a way through their feelings of loss and failure.

From there I went on to work for twenty years as a secondary school specialist behaviour, manager grief and adolescent counsellor at the Douay Martyrs Catholic Secondary School. There is 1400 students at this school. Often I had to work with a young person dealing with great loss, sometimes it was a parent or sibling, or more often than not, a grandparent or family pet. I found this particularly rewarding. Enabling a young person to re-engage with their education and find hope in their own future.I have a couple of hobbies, I enjoy painting with acrylics and love making my own birthday and Christmas cards.

As a funeral celebrant.

For me, saying goodbye to your loved one, is one of the most important things in life you will ever have to do.

Families will always struggle with this, even if somebody’s passing is expected after a long illness. It is my job to help these families and assist them in creating a beautiful ceremony that is a fitting tribute to their loved ones.

It is important that this is done with love care, empathy and attention to detail. You cannot get this wrong because you will only get one shot at getting it right. For me, this is more than a business, it is a service to ensure that loved ones that half passed receive the send-off they deserve.

I can offer my clients support and ideas for poems, readings and anecdotal stories. I offer a bespoke service to each and every family I work with catering to their individual needs. This will include visits to the home, getting to know the family and friends of the person who has passed, keeping up a good line of communication and ensuring that their requests are checked with the funeral director, crematorium, or place of burial. This is to ensure that there are no rules that may block a song or eulogy that they have chosen.