Mark Fleming Celebrant

07/04/2026

Tuesday 7th April. After Storm Dave at the weekend, with intermittent snow, hailstones, sleet, and high winds, Spring has arrived at Mortonhall Crematorium, EH16.

Merlin, my free bird identification app, revealed a diverse range of local birds adding melodies to the sunny backdrop.

28/03/2026

Clients taking the time to pass on their appreciation for my services is always humbling and heartwarming. These wonderful comments followed life celebrations in March, at Warriston and Mortonhall. 🙏

27/03/2026

Dignity Funeral Plan ...

27/03/2026

One illuminating aspect of life celebrations is the way eulogies can be social histories. Life stories often highlight long-forgotten workplaces: Henry Robb shipyards, Monktonhall Colliery, Granton Gasworks, Parsons Peebles. Popular pastimes might include speedway racing at Old Meadowbank, watching the Harlem Globetrotters at Murrayfield Ice Rink, playing peevers in the street.

I recently conducted a service in Warriston (Cloisters chapel) for a woman born in the 1940s and brought up in Craigmount when the only housing on Clermiston Hill were a few rows of bungalows. The bairns would play in open fields long before Clermiston, Drumbrae, or East Craigs were built.

I also love how music signposts different eras. Used to hearing jazz or classical music at home, when this person hit her teens, she began buying records, and going to see bands like The Hollies and Merseybeats playing in places like The Gamp Club in Victoria Terrace and The Top Storey Club in Leith.

At a time when there were still Anderson bomb shelters in many an Edinburgh back green, The Swinging Sixties must've been joyous!

17/03/2026

Heinrich ‘Harry’ Heine was a 19th century German poet and literary critic. Born into a Jewish family, he converted to Protestantism in 1825 to avoid the anti-Jewish laws which existed even back then. A century later, this wasn’t enough to spare his work from the N**i blacklist of writers destined to have their books stacked on bonfires.

Fortunately, his verse has survived a lot longer than the Third Reich did, especially this beauty:

“Where words leave off, music begins.”

This is particularly apt for life celebration services, where the family’s choice of music to remember a loved one can paint such a silver lining on the cloud of a somber day.

I’ve had requests to include everything from ‘Hearts Hearts Glorious Hearts’ to ‘The Fields of Athenry.’ ‘The Slosh’ to ‘The Hokey Cokey.’ Families have even provided the music themselves to accompany the visual display of photographs; on one occasion, a plaintive violin and guitar, on another, a beautiful, note-perfect rendition of Elbow’s ‘Lippy Kids.’

I conducted two funerals at Mortonhall (Pentland chapel) recently, where the exit music was, respectively, ‘Changes’ by Black Sabbath, and ‘Down the Dustpipe’ by Status Quo. The latter was especially dedicated to the deceased, a well-loved mum and grannie who’d stomped her feet and played air guitar when Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt (whom she’d referred to as ‘her boys’) played Falkirk stadium in 2013 (when she’d been 71!)

Music really does create long lasting memories!

17/03/2026

A wonderful, heartwarming gesture from Barclays Funeral Directors. 🙏

Mother’s Day is a difficult day for those of us who’ve lost our mums. But the simple gift of daffodils, bringing colour into the world when the sunlight strikes their bright yellow petals, will always bring warmth and peace.

19/02/2026

*Personal touches*

Because Celebrant services can be tailored to individuals, family often make specific requests to commemorate their loved one.

In one recent funeral at Warriston (Cloisters), as the deceased had been an avid Celtic supporter, his casket arrived draped in the Irish tricolour. On other occasions, there have been red/white/blue or maroon/white or green/purple floral displays. At Seafield crematorium in January, a sky blue/claret Haddington Athletic scarf proudly adorned the coffin.

While football allegiances are a common theme, I’ve also seen bespoke caskets decorated in the Scottish Rugby Union colours, and anchor-shaped wreaths for Royal Navy veterans.

Other personal touches have included particular footwear. In one Seafield service, the departed was a painter and decorator, so the family placed his paint-splattered Adidas trainers next to him on the podium. Similarly, a Wallyford lad always wore Adidas trainers, so many family members sported these on the day - including yours truly!

As this service, at Mortonhall (Main) preceded the burial at Craigmillar Castle Cemetery (with heavy ground underfoot), I brought along a pair of black shoes to change into!

20/11/2025

I meant to post this a week ago but I've been busy flitting ... Thursday 13th November was a milestone on my Life Celebrant journey. I officiated at a service in the parlour of Musselburgh and Fisherrow Funeralcare, Lochend Road South, Musselburgh: my 100th since qualifying at the start of 2024.

Although there was a downpour as the mourners gathered, MF Funeralcare always provide a welcoming, comfortable, and respectful setting for fond farewells in the Honest Toun.

20/10/2025

It is such a privilege to be invited into clients' homes to find out all about the love one they've just lost. What is truly heartening is the way that, despite the sadness, fond memories can be triggered.

At a service last week, I was describing how the family moved, in the immediate post-war period, from Stockbridge (then, unbelievably, a rundown part of the city) to West Pilton, to what were then new flats, complete with the novelty of central heating and indoor plumbing.

As kids, they'd wait for steam trains to head past their house towards the goods yards at Granton Harbour. Because the tracks were on a steep incline, coal was always dislodged. These young entrepreneurs would nip out, load an old pram with loose coal, then go door-to-door selling their wares!

Also, the deceased supported Hearts, while his brother was a Celtic man. They both went to Hampden in 1956 and watched the local team beating Celtic 3-1 to win the Scottish Cup. The crowd that day was 132,840.

I love these anecdotes from days gone by.

Map: northwest Edinburgh in the 1950s, from Bartholomew's.

16/10/2025

Yesterday's afternoon service at Mortonhall encapsulated how musical choices can make a celebration service especially memorable - and personal. Gathering music: David Gray's 'Babylon,' a song about heartbreak and perseverance. Entrance music: The Clash, 'London's Burning,' a rousing urban anthem from 1977 (and my own youth). Exit music: The Pogues, 'Dirty Old Town.' Particularly uplifting was the music chosen to accompany the slideshow during reflection: 'Enjoy Yourself,' covered by The Specials in 1980 (featuring the late, great Terry Hall; another band chiming with my teenage self).

The most sublime version of this ska classic is surely the original, performed by Prince Buster. Three minutes of unbridled joy.

Prince Buster, the King of Ska, there was a time when people used to listen to this music, especially the skinheads, the band The Specials had a big hit with...

23/09/2025

This morning, I was officiating at Warriston (Cloisters chapel). A lovely touch from the family: as well as inviting attendees to the reception at Leith Dockers, they presented miniatures for ‘one final toast’ to the departed. 🥃

Clients often share stories about a favourite local pub where a loved one enjoyed socialising with friends/family/other regulars. (This can also be an Edinburgh/Leith history lesson, as so many of these fondly remembered haunts have changed names over the years, become gentrified, or gone completely.)

Celebrating family occasions with a dram or two, from wetting a bairn’s head, to weddings, Hogmanay to a final toast, has been an important part of Scottish culture for centuries. (Everything in moderation, of course 😉) Sláinte!

09/09/2025

Although I've now been acting as a Life Celebrant since December 2023, conducting just short of 90 funeral services throughout West and East Lothian, Edinburgh, and Stirlingshire, a first for me: officiating at a celebration of life service at Binning Memorial Wood. Located between East Linton and Tyninghame in East Lothian, this is a beautiful setting where loved ones can be respectfully laid to rest. The burial plots are discreetly located amongst the trees, against a backdrop of birdsong, this enclosed setting creating a natural, tranquil ambiance.

The client was a friend from the Edinburgh band scene who has spent many years as a professional photographer. As well as asking me to conduct the service (a huge honour), fellow musicians played acoustic guitar versions of appropriate songs (Que Sera Sera, What the World Needs Now, and since the loved one had been a big Beatles' fan, Strawberry Fields Forever).

The skirl of the bagpipes, masterfully played by Pipemaster Roddy Deans, added to this memorable occasion. Roddy has performed for many people during his professional career, including HRH Queen Elizabeth, Princess Anne, Kiefer Sutherland, Billy Connolly, Kofi Annan, Pele, Chris Hoy, Andy and Jamie Murray, and Team GB’s Olympians and Paralympians from the summer & winter games.

Photos of Binning Memorial Wood courtesy of https://www.binningwood.co.uk