Poetic Endings

05/09/2025

One of my favourite things about being a celebrant is our friendly local network, where we get a chance to take a step back from our day-to-day work to learn more about our industry and build relationships with our brilliant partners.

This week a group of us went to visit the wonderful to learn about their unique approach to funerals and to go behind the scenes in their beautiful funeral home.

Thank you so much to the team for taking the time to host us and for the thought-provoking conversation.

We’d love to meet with more partners in future - do drop me a message if you’d like to host us!

21/07/2025

This afternoon we’re taking a moment to enjoy these delicious ginger flapjacks and energy balls made for us by and her daughter Sofia, in the newly refreshed poetic garden (courtesy of ).

Sofia joined us for work experience last week. She helped out in the mortuary, attended a funeral and asked us lots of questions about life as a funeral director.

We’d like the recipe for your ginger flapjack please!

04/07/2025

We’re admiring this beauty (a Jaguar E type) which has appeared outside Poetic Endings in Forest Hill today. It looks beautiful against our pollinator party front garden flowers!

🚗 & 🌷

03/07/2025

🌿 We’re opening a second branch of Poetic Endings! 🍃

We’re thrilled to share that our second funeral home will soon be opening at 161 Kirkdale, right in the heart of Sydenham’s historic high street.

Since moving to Forest Hill in 2021, we’ve felt truly welcomed by the South East London community. Now, we’re honoured to extend our presence and care into Sydenham.

Kirkdale has been a high street since the 1820s, and we’re proud to be joining a vibrant community of independent shops and cafes including , , , , , , and many more.

There’s lots of work ahead to transform the space into a beautiful new funeral home — but we can’t wait to welcome you to our launch very soon. ✨

22/05/2025

I wanted to share this beautiful review we just received. It really encapsulates everything we try to do to support people through their grief and their trauma.

No other words from us needed 🥹

17/04/2025

We're so excited to be attending this inspiring conference organised by our friends Natural Endings. If you're interested in helping to progress the modern funeral movement, we'd love to see you there!

Funerals and rituals can be powerful in supporting bereaved people to begin to adjust to a new way of living with loss and love. They are often inhabiting a liminal place, so are amazing to work with due to their openness in their personal meaning making processes. This creative one-day conference will explore how we can co-create meaningful events that support and build upon this meaning making, and includes workshops from some of our favourite practitioners - Rosalie Kuyvenhoven Funerals and End-of-Life Services, Alexandra Derwen, Dead Good Legacies.

Funerals and rituals can be powerful in supporting bereaved people to begin to adjust to a new way of living with loss and love. They are often inhabiting a liminal place, so are amazing to work with due to their openness in their personal meaning making processes. This creative one-day conference e...

15/04/2025

We rarely share the lovely things clients say to us after the funeral, but J’s words really touched us. 🫶

14/04/2025

This morning we were at Dulwich Picture Gallery ()for the funeral of a woman who appreciated art. We used our trusted Obitus Maestro Lite system, which enables us to pop up at any venue and play music with the same ease as if we were at the crematorium. No Bluetooth speakers or Spotify playlists needed!

Our Maestro Lite has already been to some exciting alternative funeral venues, including (but not limited to!) the Horniman Museum & Gardens, Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park, Fitzrovia Chapel, Oaks Farm and various churches and cemeteries. But today is definitely uniquely impressive - surrounded by original art by Rembrandt, Gainsborough and Poussin. Jacqueline du Pré never sounded more glorious.

10/03/2025

This is Cat, distant cousin of the ‘s cat Toni. Cat is superintendent at . He enjoys watching the crematorium’s doves and geese, patrolling the grounds and overseeing funerals.

Cat refused to look at the camera for this photograph to be taken.

05/02/2025

🍄‍🟫🍃 Thank you to everyone who came along to Poetic Endings & Unruly Flowers yesterday for the unveiling of the world’s first living coffin, the Loop Living Cocoon™ 🍃🍄‍🟫

The coffin is a work of art, and a gift we can all make to nature when our time comes. Grown from mycelium (the root network of mushrooms) in just one week in ’s mushroom growing facility in Holland, the coffin then biodegrades in just 45 days, nourishing the soil around it. It’s also certified for cremation in the UK, and the most beautiful urn is available for the ashes.

We are absolutely delighted to be the first UK funeral director to have used and to offer, the wonderful range of Loop products. We hope many more will follow! We’re also delighted that people we’re supporting to arrange funerals are already choosing 🍄‍🟫!

This post is also a huge shoutout to our extraordinarily talented florist, Katie , who turned her floral studio into a forestscape so everyone could experience this groundbreaking innovation. The coffin looks so at home surrounded by moss (sustainably sourced), snowdrops, ferns and brambles carefully foraged from the local area. When the installation comes down, we’ll carefully plant everything in to enjoy the greenery for years to come.

Thank you also to who managed to capture the magic and beauty of the installation Katie created.

If you missed out yesterday, the coffin will be available tomorrow (Thursday) at 1pm with our dear friend and fellow progressive funeral director from and a talk from Bob, the inspiring founder of .

🍄‍🟫🍃

04/02/2025

🍃 Today’s the day! 🍃

🍄 We’re incredibly excited to be the first funeral director in the UK to offer the Loop Living Cocoon™ by , the world’s first mushroom coffin. Designed to enrich the soil and restore natural balance, it’s a truly revolutionary step toward sustainable farewells 🍄

🌱 Imagine if, in our final moments, we could give back to the earth, nourishing the soil and fostering new life. That’s the vision behind Loop Biotech - restoring harmony with nature and protecting the planet for future generations.

🌱During their graduation project at Delft University of Technology, founders Bob and Lonneke Hendrikx discovered the amazing potential of mycelium—the root network of mushrooms. Mycelium is nature’s ultimate recycler, transforming organic matter into vital nutrients that enrich the earth. The Loop Living Coffin biodegrades in the soil in just 45 days, and is also available for cremations.

🍄 Join us at Poetic Endings in Forest Hill today as our resident florist transforms our adjoining floral studio, , into a magical forest-scape to showcase the Loop Living Cocoon™ and urn 🍄

🕛 Between 12 and 1pm, founder and inventor Bob Hendrikx will share his inspiring vision and answer your questions while we enjoy delicious mushroom-based refreshments.

🕛 Pop in between 1 and 4pm and then 6 and 10pm to experience the magic for yourself

🌱 Let’s enrich nature together, and make a lasting, positive impact on the world 🌱

31/01/2025

We’ve been so blown away by interest in our highly secretive event on Tuesday that we’ve decided to extend it into the evening so more of you can attend! 🍃

You can now experience the excitement at Poetic Endings & as follows:

⏰ 12 - 1pm : meet the founder of this groundbreaking innovation and see it in situ in our floral studio, transformed into a magical forestscape for the occasion

⏰ 1 - 4pm : pop in to discover the secret and see the forest

⏰ 6 - 10pm : open house - pop in!

Light refreshments (on the theme!) available as well as goody bags (whilst stocks last).

If you’d like to join us either during the day or in the evening, please sign up via the links on our website

www.poetic-endings.com/talks-and-events