Ashes To Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer

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Evie King also struggles with her role and emotions in all of this. What is she supposed to feel, or not, in relation to the people she is organising funerals for? With every death some sort of relationship is formed, and some cases, like the burial of someone with learning difficulties, hit closer to home than others.

Ashes To Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral

You don't need to be a funeral professional to enjoy this book; it's written in an easy style that makes it easy reading and I recommend it to everyone I speak too now. My company is also giving a copy to each of our new starters as an example of what going above and beyond in the interests of the deceased can look like. Moving out of London to the seaside, Evie found herself needing a job, and ended up working for a local council. A fascinating, poignant and FUNNY insight into the slightly macabre world of a council funeral officer’– Diane MorganSometimes you just know that you are going to love a book from the first few sentences and that was absolutely the case with Ashes to Admin. King makes you consider the pros and cons of age. Referring to one of her people ‘ She had evidently, at 99 years old, outlived everyone. A downside to longevity that people sometimes don’t consider, and something that is striven for blindly in our life-at-all-costs culture.’ This really jumped out at me, as I often feel that people focus on lifespan and not the value and quality of life we have.

By Evie King Ashes To Admin (Tales from the Caseload of a

I thus experienced first-hand the magic of the work that Evie King does. Evie King works for her local council and part of her job is to carry out funerals under Section 46. It is not a given that there are people available to organise a funeral after someone dies, but legally in the UK councils are responsible when no-one is available. People are not just thrown in a ditch and forgotten. King's book is enlightening for readers in respect of what a "Council Funeral" actually entails. One of her cases is that of a man whose family, are in receipt of benefits, as was he, and who are devastated by the thought that their loved one will receive only a cheap, perfunctory send-off because even collectively they couldn't afford anything more. In fact, the reassuring truth is that a Section 46 funeral may have fewer frills than other funerals, but it is still every bit as respectful and dignified. She clearly cares for her 'clients' and represents an ideal of how such cases should be conducted. You can't fault her personal passion and commitment.Evie King is the pen name of Christina Martin. She is a former stand up comedian and a part-time writer. She has always written short form pieces, in the margins of her various day jobs, contributing to New Humanist, Guardian Comment is Free, BBC Comedy and Viz Comic. Since moving to the seaside and going part-time she has had more time for writing which has accumulated in Ashes to Admin. I found the author's attitude to dying to be positively infectious, so the book has probably had a lasting impact on the ways in which I think about death and dying, as well as making the most out of living. One thing I soon learned from reading this book is that Section 46 funerals are nothing like the dismal image of a pauper's funeral that I had in my head. If the deceased has left behind documentation relating to their wishes concerning their committal, those wishes will be carried out: if there's no such information, or the deceased's identity is unknown, they will still receive a dignified send-off.

Ashes to Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Ashes to Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral

I wanted to read this book after hearing Evie King being interviewed on the radio; I thought she seemed like a lot of fun, and she had a very interesting job. I'd never heard of the post of Council Funeral Officer before; but it sounded like a fascinating job, organising Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act, ie, for people without the family and/or finances to cremate or bury them: although I do wonder how many CFOs perform their task in the way that Evie does. Diane (Philomena Cunk) Morgan: "A fascinating, poignant, and funny insight into the slightly macabre world of a Council Funeral Officer." In technical parlance, Evie is responsible for “Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act”. In lay terms, that means arranging funerals for people who die alone, without family or friends to arrange a funeral. In her straight-talking, informative introduction, Evie explains the process: “when a person dies in these circumstances, I get a call, typically from a care home, or a coroner, less typically from a relative”. For further proof of the nature of the book, consider the reviewers chosen and whose comments are printed on the covers and inside the book: Imagine a life without the presence of family or friends; you sadly pass away alone and your life remains unrecognised, neglected as if never to be heard again. Thanks to Evie King an inspiring local council worker in charge of carrying out Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act, these individuals’ lives are not forgotten (and other Council Funeral Officers of course!).Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks. Home > Ultimately, she will not only explain her role but she will seek to reframe how we view those who end up with what was once called a pauper's funeral, and in turn reframe how we think about our own endings. She also keenly wants to impart the need for preparation and expression of wishes. Hopefully you will leave ready to write your will and live your life out from under the weighty shadow of legacy. A remarkable book about a job that most of us don’t realise exists by a woman who chose to throw her heart and soul into it. Philosophical, funny, tragic and intriguing. This has to be made into a prime-time TV drama' – Richard Herring In Ashes to Admin, Evie shows, however, that very few people aren’t loved, but that mourners can take various shapes. The effect of people’s deaths can ripple far beyond the stereotypical expectation of family: