A.W. Lymn creates first ‘top rated’ celebrants database

A.W. Lymn The Family Funeral Service now requires all celebrants – the main host of a funeral who officiates the service - to be trained, DBS checked and show proof of the quality of service they deliver to the bereaved before they can be added to their approved celebrant record.

The new initiative has been put in place so the award-winning funeral directors can guarantee that it is using the very best, most experienced, and highest-qualified celebrants for the families it serves across the region.

Richard Marshall is the Senior Civil Celebrant of three in-house celebrants at A.W. Lymn. Speaking on the new initiative, he said: “Previously, it has been standard for a funeral service to be led by a member of the clergy. But we’re seeing that opting for a celebrant is becoming an increasingly popular choice, as fewer people go to church. Civil celebrants have filled a gap, offering a more tailored and personalised experience for families.

“But due to a lack of regulation, there could be a real range in quality of celebrants and with more people than ever choosing the option, it’s increasingly important that we can guarantee to families which opt for a celebrant that they meet the same quality and level of excellence we strive for every day at A.W. Lymn.”

The celebrant list is just one of the ways A.W. Lymn, which now operates 25 funeral homes across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and most recently Leicestershire, continues to maintain the highest quality of care and meet the changing needs of the bereaved, as it expands its services to more people in the region.

A civil celebrant is an individual who conducts either secular or semi-religious ceremonies. They focus on creating a personalised service, centring the event on the individual’s life, their milestones and the people who meant the most to them. The industry is currently unregulated, and while training is available, it is not mandatory.

The list has been widely welcomed by the civil celebrant community, with many seeing the scheme as the first step towards official industry regulation.

Matthew Lymn Rose, Managing Director at A.W. Lymn and fifth generation, added: “We pride ourselves on offering the best quality of care to those we serve, and our responsibility extends much wider than just our funeral arrangers, funeral directors, embalmers and driver bearers.

“We’re committed to ensuring that we only recommend and use the best external services too, which is why we have invested our time in compiling a thoroughly checked list of approved celebrants for our funerals going forward.

“The list is not set in stone, but rather dynamic and will be regularly updated as more celebrants fulfil our requirements. If a family wishes to use a celebrant who is not on our list, we will always accommodate their choice.”