Siân Storey | Funeral Celebrant

Hello, my name is Siân Storey and I am tour funeral celebrant in Bo’ness in Scotland. In the NHS, I worked as an Intensive Care Nurse for many years, supporting people at some of their most vulnerable times in life and death. Some people shy away from the finality of these kind of experiences, but I see it as the last honour and privilege that can be done for someone and so the transition to becoming a Funeral Celebrant seemed natural for me. My last nursing role though was as a Nurse Advisor for a Continence Medical Device company, so I am well versed in “uncomfortable” conversations in whatever form they take. I can help you take those tough times and turn them into something that is right for you.

My passion is death done well. However, having been a Nurse one way or another, for over 40 years, I know that this is very often not the case. Grief and loss, anger and despair. Emotions do not come neatly packaged and they need to be expressed some way. Many choose from what they know and are familiar with; they settle for a church service and perhaps feel unfilled at the end. Many more are now opting for something different, something individual, something special.

For the person that is dying, being able to plan a ceremony for themselves, the way that they want it is a revelation! Having that very last bit of control can make their own death seem easier to cope with. A funeral can be one of the most liberating and fulfilling events even if you are the one dying and planning it but not able to be around for the big day! For the family and friends that are planning the ceremony for someone they loved and cared for, a funeral can provide so many different things. It can help to allow us to say what we want to say to everyone there, not only to say goodbye, but to find a significance to the life of that individual. It can help us to start to come to terms with the loss and find support in each other at one of the most difficult times in anyone’s life.

If all these aspects can be brought together in a meaningful way, with sensitivity but also with joy, a funeral ceremony can provide a positive conclusion to that’s persons life even in the most difficult or chaotic of circumstances. If you feel that this approach to planning a funeral is important to you, I would be delighted to meet with you. It will be a bespoke ceremony, personal to you and your family and friends, the way you want it. Free to make the irreverent choices if you wish or a hymn or reading if it’s the right thing for you. Unique, just like the one you loved.