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Ashes To Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer

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Sometimes tragic, as with the case of an unidentified woman found on a beach buried without even a name, but often uplifting and occasionally hilarious. Ultimately, Evie discovers that her job is more about life than it is about death, funerals being for the living and death being merely a trigger to rediscover a life and celebrate it against the odds. King's book is enlightening for readers in respect of what a "Council Funeral" actually entails. One of her cases is that of a man whose family, are in receipt of benefits, as was he, and who are devastated by the thought that their loved one will receive only a cheap, perfunctory send-off because even collectively they couldn't afford anything more. In fact, the reassuring truth is that a Section 46 funeral may have fewer frills than other funerals, but it is still every bit as respectful and dignified. Each chapter is a case referred to her. King writes with love and humour about the accompanying frustrations and emotions as she goes above and beyond to give everyone a dignified goodbye. To ensure no one is alone when they're buried or cremated and to bring the dead to life so that we know them and their story. We learn about the endless admin hoops King has to jump through. The strange practicalities. That death is of course not 9-5 so the work isn't either. That people can be awkward but also wonderful. And that everyone has a story. Reminiscent of Adam Kay but in a glorious world all of its own, this made me smile a lot and also cry.

What happens if you die without family or money? The answer to this very three-in-the-morning question is that Evie, or someone like her, will step in and arrange your funeral. Evie King is the pen name of Christina Martin. She is a former stand up comedian and a part-time writer. She has always written short form pieces, in the margins of her various day jobs, contributing to New Humanist, Guardian Comment is Free, BBC Comedy and Viz Comic. Since moving to the seaside and going part-time she has had more time for writing which has accumulated in Ashes to Admin. The chapters that follow, poignantly named after some of the individuals whose funerals Evie organised, and whose lives she here respects and honours, are filled with stirring details. Honest on how it feels, as an administrative official, to witness so many tragic lives, troubled lives, and lives that might have been different, and how it feels to be confronted by death so brutally on a daily basis, this is a uniquely absorbing read.I am asking because my dad was estranged from his sister, my aunt, who I never met. He had wanted to see her again when he was dying but I didn't know how to find her. However, last year I discovered she had passed away early in 2022 and so sent for her death certificate. Sadly it contains similar words, "causing the body to be cremated" and I suspect the person who did that may have a similar role to yourself. I would like to know where my aunt's final resting place is. I have this slight concern of what if her ashes are unclaimed somewhere. I just want to know she's been laid to rest properly somewhere and to feel she is at peace. It isn't your name on the certificate but I thought you may be able to advise/help me”

I wanted to read this book after hearing Evie King being interviewed on the radio; I thought she seemed like a lot of fun, and she had a very interesting job. I'd never heard of the post of Council Funeral Officer before; but it sounded like a fascinating job, organising Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act, ie, for people without the family and/or finances to cremate or bury them: although I do wonder how many CFOs perform their task in the way that Evie does. One thing I soon learned from reading this book is that Section 46 funerals are nothing like the dismal image of a pauper's funeral that I had in my head. If the deceased has left behind documentation relating to their wishes concerning their committal, those wishes will be carried out: if there's no such information, or the deceased's identity is unknown, they will still receive a dignified send-off. For further proof of the nature of the book, consider the reviewers chosen and whose comments are printed on the covers and inside the book:I thus experienced first-hand the magic of the work that Evie King does. Evie King works for her local council and part of her job is to carry out funerals under Section 46. It is not a given that there are people available to organise a funeral after someone dies, but legally in the UK councils are responsible when no-one is available. People are not just thrown in a ditch and forgotten.

As is noted by radical undertaker Ru Callender in What Remains?, the UK funeral industry can be a expensive minefield. Ashes to Admin shows the consequences of the costly world of funerals. To be responsible for a funeral increasingly can cause people to get into debt. Funeral poverty is a growing issue, and can be one of the reasons why people will receive a Section 46 funeral; families can simply not afford it. A huge amount of shame comes with not being able to give family member a ‘proper’ send off.

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As we drove away I thought about all of the atypical types of grief and mourner I had come across so far, so different from the pre-conceived familial norms. Care home staff, neighbours, garden club members, local bus drivers. There were a thousand ways to be mourned, the benchmark didn’t have to be weeping spouses or devastated children”

Ashes to Admin lifts the coffin lid on some moving and unexpected personal life stories. Sometimes tragic, as with the case of an unidentified woman found on a beach buried without even a name, but often uplifting and occasionally hilarious. From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada:Evie's memoir of a life spent organising what were until recently still known as 'pauper's funerals' is by turns hilarious and heartfelt. It lifts the lid on the lives, and more importantly the deaths, of our country's forgotten people, dignifying them, and shaming our nation. It's a cliché, but I laughed and I cried and I realised I have wasted my life. A kind of campaigning journalism written in the witty and waspish tone of the funniest woman in the workplace, it should be essential reading for policy makers. I can't recommend this book enough. A Road To Wigan Pier for post-Brexit Britain. Poverty Porn in reverse, raising the spirits, dignifying the human experience, and demanding action' History Makers: Female Writers Dominate the 2023 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award Shortlist Ultimately, Evie discovers that her job is more about life than it is about death, funerals being for the living and death being merely a trigger to rediscover a life and celebrate it against the odds. I found the author's attitude to dying to be positively infectious, so the book has probably had a lasting impact on the ways in which I think about death and dying, as well as making the most out of living.

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