Jan Mattison Celebrant at Spiral Ceremonies

09/04/2026

Words, music, photos and poetry - all elements of a funeral ceremony that help to tell the story of a life 💜 Each unique.

Recent readings have come from Spike Milligan and Terry Pratchett; and of course, words penned by our Scottish Bard, Robert Burns are always a favourite 💜

16/03/2026

Such true and lovely words 💜

After the funeral,

when the flowers
have faded

and the visitors
have gone home,

that’s when
the quiet begins.

The house
feels different.

The chair
they used to sit in
feels empty.

People think
the hardest day
was the goodbye.

But sometimes

the hardest days
come later.

Weeks later.

Months later.

Years later.

Because grief
doesn’t follow
a schedule.

It simply
walks beside you,

showing up
in memories,
in silence,

and in the moments
you wish
you could share
with them.

And in those moments,

what a grieving heart
needs most

is not explanations,

not advice,

but someone
who stays

and understands

that love
doesn’t end

just because
a life did. 🤍

15/03/2026

Thinking of all mums today, and all those missing their mum. 💜
Thought I’d include a pic of wee me with my big brother and late big sister, together with our lovely mum.
Gone but never forgotten 💞💜

13/03/2026

💜💜

11/03/2026

An apt poem for the beautiful surroundings of Roucan Loch Crematorium this morning 🌼
By William Wordsworth:

I wander'd lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: -
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company!
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.

08/03/2026

Happy International Women’s Day to all the incredible and inspiring women in my life: family, friends and colleagues 💗💗

You all know who you are - keep on being wonderful 💜

01/03/2026

💜 🌹

01/03/2026

💜Sharing this incredible organisation I had the honour of finding out about just recently - the work they do is life-changing.
Please give them a share 💜

22/02/2026

💜💜Today you’ll walk past someone who’s grieving, someone who is carrying the ghost of love..

And the ghost of love is heavy: it makes the easy things difficult, and the difficult things unbearable. It weighs on every breath, every step and every turn that we take. It can make the every-day exhausting.

For some people, the ghost is a new acquaintance, and they carry it on their shoulders.
Unknown and unfamiliar, it is finding its place. Figuring out how to settle here forever.

For some it is an old friend, and they carry it in their arms.
It’s almost pleasant and overly-familiar, but it can still grow heavy; and that’s when it starts to ache.

And for some, it has become a part of who they are.
It walks beside them; love hand-in-hand with grief.

You’ll walk past someone who’s grieving today; someone weighed down by an invisible heaviness that they carry.

It’s new and it’s old,
and then it’s old that becomes new all over again in a heartbeat.

Because, no matter how long they have known it,
that is truly where they carry it.

Not on their shoulders.
Not in their arms.

But always,
always
in their heart💜💜

Becky Hemsley 2024

20/02/2026

Such a true sentiment worth thinking about 💜

04/02/2026

🧡💙💜

💗