DM died and was cremated last month. She wants to be interred in her mother’s grave in the village she lived in before she went into a care home. It’s a village I often visited and stayed in but never lived there myself and it’s about 200 miles from me, so I have no contacts there.
The village church (and the neighbouring churches it was grouped with) have no vicar at the moment and there seems to be a question mark over whether a new one will be appointed. The church warden has agreed to the interment in the church yard and according to the funeral director who organised the cremation they would be ok with us organising our own graveside ceremony. I find this strange as I assumed that on consecrated ground you needed a minister to do this. And anyway, although I have some words planned I would like a minister to say something too.
The church warden and funeral director don’t seem to want to get involved in finding a minister. Are there people who would do this on a freelance basis? If so how would I make contact?
Another possibility is the previous vicar, who was absolutely lovely and knew my mum and I as she supported us both during the hard times before she went into a care home. She is now in a parish 60 miles away. Would it be acceptable to ask if she would do it? She always seemed to be incredibly busy as she has a child with special needs as well as all the demands of the parish. She also only actually met us twice. The rest of the contact was by phone. She left my mother’s parish about a year ago.
Any thoughts or ideas?