About
I am hoping you are reading this as someone who is exploring whether they would like a celebrant to conduct one of the most important moments of their, or their loved ones, life. If so, it's really important to get to know the celebrant you may be working with to see whether they align to your values, expectations and ways of thinking. So here I am introducing myself!
At the time of writing this (early 2022), I am 32 years old and live in Lytham in the North West of England. I live in a beautiful house with my husband James, my 7 year old daughter Ellie and our 20 month old cockapoo Henry. The essential cliché puppy purchase of COVID-19 lockdown #1! My husband and I met when he was in the Merchant Navy and so we had a long distance relationship between Southampton and Lytham and then subsequently the wide world when he was at sea for 9 months of the year. I was lucky enough to sail with him a few times to the Caribbean and the Mediterranean before he came ashore.
My daughter Ellie has beautiful, wild, curly hair and if I'm honest, this epitomises her completely. I honestly know that everyone says this about their children but she is truly gorgeous both inside and out. She is kind, caring, gentle, funny, compassionate, inquisitive, clever like her Dad and her favourite thing to do is read. Her school reports make me beam with pride.
And what about me? Well, I work part-time in a corporate environment as an Early Careers Manager - which means I look after new apprentices and graduates who come into the business. I also wear a safeguarding hat in that role, which means looking after the apprentices through times where they are having difficulty in their lives. However hard it can be, I enjoy actively listening to the individual and their story to fully understand how they feel and if, and how, I can help.
COVID-19 during 2020 and 2021, like everyone, was hard for me. It was a huge wrench to be apart from those I loved on a daily basis and I sadly lost three of my grandparents in eleven months during this time. This was, and is, extremely hard. I am tremendously family oriented and we were very close so I feel those losses daily. I was nevertheless extremely privileged to write part of the eulogies for all their celebrant funerals and relished the chance to gather their lives together and express through words the impact they had on the world. I left their funerals thinking how privileged I would be to help families with their loved one's funerals like our celebrant did for us. So COVID and their loss, along with many, many little things, led me to exploring, and ultimately becoming a celebrant. I hope I am able to make my grandparents proud by hopefully doing something enriching and meaningful for others.
Whilst exploring the celebrant world, and then training with the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants, I was thrilled to discover celebrants not only perform funeral services but beautiful wedding ceremonies and naming ceremonies too. Having had experience of my own non-religious wedding and then the birth of my daughter, and not finding an alternative to a religious Christening, I was over the moon that I would have the opportunity to use my skills for other distinctive moments in people's lives.
To finish off, I am an avid reader, I have a Peloton bike I enjoy spinning on, I LOVE good food and wine with friends and family, I enjoy going to the cinema and the theatre, tinkering with some creative writing and of course, travelling when I am able.
Training
In terms of training; I carried out my celebrant training with the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants. Firstly the funeral course with James Mooney-Dutton and then the family course with Terri Shanks.
Welcome! Thanks for visiting my page! I hope you find all the info you need, but please do get in touch if you have any questions!
Lauren