Detail of a carving at All Saints Church
Funerals at All Saints Lydiard Millicent
You can have a service at Church and follow it with a service at a crematorium or a burial.
All Saints Church is available to all who wish to come for a departed relatives funeral or memorial service, whether or not this is followed by internment in a cemetery or a cremation.
Having a service in Church provides more time and space and a more dignified setting, than solely at a crematorium or cemetery chapel. Such places however well run, are for one purpose only; whereas a church is a community of the living as well as of the departed, and has many other associations. Your first port of call is a funeral Director and there are many good ones in Swindon and Royal Wootton Bassett. We are here to help, and with most people we can help you have a church service, or clergy to conduct a service elsewhere. As a C of E Church we welcome all, and aim to make a service, within guidelines, that will help you at this time. There is remarkable flexibility to tailor a service to reflect your wishes. Please be mindful that any personal contributions do need to be checked with the clergy and or LLM before the service and need to be appropriate for a Church of England service, but there is huge flexibility. When the service in church is followed by a committal at a local crematorium,which now conveniently can be at the North Wiltshire Crematorium near Junction 16 of the M4, the service there is very brief and does not involve an over long journey. You can encourage friends to come to Church to make their farewell, with only the family going on for the committal if you so wish.
There are several excellent local venues for a gathering after a funeral, the Parish Hall is often available for rent if you book in advance, and the Sun Inn at Lydiard Millicent is well experienced in catering for such occasions.(See links)
Parking: It is recommended that you book the Parish Hall so you can use its car parking facilities opposite the church for your wedding (Welcome to Lydiard Millicent Parish Hall - Lydiard Millicent Parish Hall) because the Parish Hall is a separate entity to the church. If the car park is full or unavailable, please park at the Vicarage, The Butts, SN5 3LR. Please be considerate to our neigbours and not block access to their homes.
Our aim is to listen, to be sensitive to people’s needs and to help you with a service wherever you choose it to be, that will give you assurance, peace and hope and to do proper follow up with pastoral care should you value that. The clergy and Lay staff here will do all we can to help you.
The Pastoral Introduction to the Church of England Funeral service says this:
God’s love and power extend over all creation. Every Life, including our own, is precious to God. Christians have always belived that there is hope in death as in life, and that there is new life in Christ over death.
Even those who share such faith find there is a real sense of loss at the death of a loved one. We will each have had our own experience of their life and death, with different memories and different feelings of love, grief and regret. To acknowledge this at the beginning and end of the service should help us to use this occasion to express our faith and our feeling and say farewell, acknowledge our loss and our sorrow, and to reflect on our own mortality. Those who mourn need support and consolation, the presence of family and friends at the funeral is part of that continuing support.
(Pastoral Introduction to the funeral service, Common Worship)
NB Please note we do not have jurisdiction over Lydiard Millicent Cemetery, this is in the care of the Parish Council, and you will need to contact them through your funeral Director. All Saints Churchyard has been officially closed for new burials for many years.
Please note we are here to help you and guide you, and provide the best level of care possible.
#For further help and information tudor.roberts.aslm@gmail.com
