When someone dies

It is usually best to contact an Undertaker who will take care of all the practical arrangements for you. The undertaker will also guide you through the things you need to do at this time. You will find the phone numbers for all the local undertakers in the Phone Book or the Yellow Pages. If you need help to choose an undertaker then we recommend you ask relatives, friends or neighbours about their experience with different firms.

Tell the undertaker if you would like to have a Christian Minister conduct the service for you, they will then discuss a suitable date and time, and contact the office at St Thomas' to make the arrangements.

When we are contacted by the undertakers, the minister who is to take the service will get in touch with you, if you live locally we always try to arrange to visit you. At this meeting the minister will want to talk to you about the person who has died, he or she will also discuss with you what you would like to include in the service

The Funeral Service

This can take place either in St Thomas church or at the Cemetery or Crematorium (in Coventry this is often at Canley). If the service is to be in St Thomas' church then it must be led by a Church of England approved minister, at a council run chapel like Canley Crematorium you can ask anyone you like to take the service.

A Church of England Funeral Service will consist of (usually) hymns, plus any live or recorded music you have chosen, and memories of the person who has died (sometimes a friend or family member will say something, sometimes the family prefer to leave this to the minister). There will also be prayers and a Bible Reading, and a short talk about Christian Hope. Finally there are some formal words commending the soul of the deceased to God's care, and committing their remains either to burial or cremation as appropriate.

Burials in St Thomas' Churchyard

Although St Thomas' Churchyard has been officially closed, it is still possible in some circumstances to be buried there or to have ashes placed there. Permission was given when the churchyard closed, for people to continue to use family graves. Also, some people reserved new unused grave spaces before the closure and they can continue to use them.

If you would like to arrange a burial in St Thomas' churchyard please contact the Vicar to discuss this.

If you have a family grave that is already full, it is usually still possible to have someone's ashes placed there after cremation. Again please contact the vicar to discuss this if you are interested.

 

Download the Churchyard Booklet

This helpful booklet describes how to arrange for a gravestone, or any other monuments, in the churchyard. It also explains the Church of England rules concerning them.		Booklet
To apply for permission to install a gravestone, or any other monument, you will need to send in two copies of this application form, which may be downloaded from here.		Application Form
The Booklet and Application Form are made available as pdf (Adobe Acrobat) files, if you do not have a copy of the FREE Acrobat Reader program you can download it here.