Rise in memorials offering 'that personal send-off'
BBCWhen Trevor Davis died in 2025, close friend Pat Brady wanted his funeral to be different.
The 81-year-old had lived in both Newcastle and Leeds and had "a really good life and we needed to bring that out", she said.
"We had smiling pallbearers wearing odd socks; we had a plastic blown-up parrot sitting on top of a coffin and a grumpy old Yorkshireman with his Leeds United colours."
Research commissioned by the Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) has found many people are choosing a more bespoke memorial service, with 72% saying they think funerals should reflect the individuality of the deceased.
When it came to creating a more personal service, Pat was helped by Gary Staker, North Tyneside funeral director and SAIF president.
Staker said one reason for the market shift towards a more bespoke memorial is the greater choice being offered by funeral directors.
He told BBC Radio Newcastle: "When I started doing funerals, the majority of services were with the local minister. We had Abide With Me going in and The Lord Is My Shepherd coming out, and every funeral was nigh on the same.
"Now there's lots of things available to families."
Recently SAIF has launched a campaign to encourage people to request a more bespoke funeral.
Staker said many of his members had found creative ways to remember loved ones, without resorting to costly interventions.
"I was chatting to a celebrant recently who had done a funeral for a pilot. At the start of her service, she said, 'We are now coming into land' - giving it a sort of 'this is your captain speaking' treatment.
"That didn't need to cost a lot of money, but it reflected him."
Joe Richmond agrees. He runs a family memorial business creating gravestones in Blaydon.
He said: "People are definitely making stones more personal, even if it isn't something huge carved on the stone.
"They're adding small bits - we do lots of little add-on granite ornaments.
"People are really going out there to give their loved one that personal send-off."
When bus enthusiast David Reekie died in 2023, his team of carers felt moved to remember him in a style befitting his favourite pastime.
They commissioned a full-colour bus for his gravestone, designed and delivered by Richmond's company.
The gravestone now stands proudly in North Tyneside cemetery, overlooking where David grew up.
Tim Keilty, who led the team who cared for Reekie, said many in the local community knew him and his love for bus travel.
"Freedom was probably his biggest passion and he found that on the bus," he said.
"So every day, that's what he did - he would get up and get on a bus and go somewhere."
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