do them proud
Martyn Healy
Independent Funeral Celebrant
do them proud?
Why “Do Them Proud”? Well, it’s my mission. I want attendees to leave a ceremony that I have conducted and say to the bereaved family “You did her proud”.
Recently I attended two funerals on two consecutive days. The first was an old work colleague with a rich history … and the service was 13 minutes long and I hardly recognised the man being spoken about.
The second was the husband of a friend of my wife; a guy I had met a couple of times many years ago and the celebrant painted a vivid picture which moved us to tears and laughter and I saw it bringing comfort to the deceased’s widow.
At the first funeral I thought “I’d could have done so much better than that”. At the second I thought “I want to be as good as that guy”.
“You did him proud” people said the grieving wife and that’s why I chose this name for my little business: To do them proud.
Doing someone proud is about honouring their memory and your memories – so it can’t be a cut and paste ceremony. It’s my job to support YOU, the family & friends, extracting information and crafting a suitable tribute that truly reflects their life.
about martyn
My background is in commercial radio: from advertising writer to sales & management to a bit of presenting and a lot of voice over work. I’ve also been a business & personal coach, a trainer and I’m a fully trained hypnotherapist.
I’m from Yorkshire and the North East became my adopted home when I joined Metro Radio in the 80s. I married a Mackem and my kids were brought up in the Tyne Valley. I’m based in Stocksfield Northumberland.
the role of the celebrant
The Funeral Director will put me in touch with the Next of Kin to arrange a family meeting for me to find out what you want from the service. The Funeral Director will be coordinating the logistics of the funeral while my job is to find out how you want to structure your service.
There is a basic structure, but you can choose to honour the deceased in any way that you and they want. Everything from the overall feel of the ceremony to the readings, readers, music -hymns or just a favourite tune. And the Eulogy. I will spend time with you finding out about your loved one and create a suitable eulogy that will be designed to Do Them Proud. You’ll see a draft version … and we’ll tweak and improve until you are happy. Then a family member can deliver it or because that’s a really tough ask, I can deliver it for you.
Questions?
Contact Martyn on
07954 323245
and on email
hello@DoThemProud.co.uk
