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

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Read on for a remarkable discovery into our world of mourning and sorrow through King’s compassionate words! You don't need to be a funeral professional to enjoy this book; it's written in an easy style that makes it easy reading and I recommend it to everyone I speak too now. My company is also giving a copy to each of our new starters as an example of what going above and beyond in the interests of the deceased can look like. 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'

As someone who works at a Council and studied death culture at university, it was probably inevitable that I would find Ashes to Admin immensely enjoyable. 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” Evie King also struggles with her role and emotions in all of this. What is she supposed to feel, or not, in relation to the people she is organising funerals for? With every death some sort of relationship is formed, and some cases, like the burial of someone with learning difficulties, hit closer to home than others.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. About This Edition ISBN: In this talk, Evie lifts the coffin lid on the world of a council funeral officer, a job that lurches from the legislative and administrative, via the workaday and practical, right through to the emotional and existential. Her stories are 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.

Ashes to Admin’ lifts the coffin lid on those extraordinary personal stories that have been so often left unheard. King brings us face-to-face with these unusual circumstances that touch on life and death together in unexpected ways. From tragic stories like an unidentified woman found on a beach without even her name being recorded, to uplifting tales that illustrate the beauty of celebrating someone’s life against all odds; this remarkable book promises readers an insight into fulfilling a job they may not have heard of before. King talks about her early days in the job, and with each case, we see her expertise and knowledge developing and growing. She learns how to become immune to the "smell of death" to maggots in months'-old food and, in the process, realises that she possesses a talent for organising respectful funerals for the dispossessed dead.Another criticism put forward by Woodthorpe is the notion of ‘loved ones’ - not everyone is loved and not everyone is on good terms with their so-called ‘loved ones’. This challenge is also present in Ashes to Admin, some people fall under Section 46 because they have fallen out with their ‘loved ones’. 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. If you're coming to Coles by car, why not take advantage of the 2 hours free parking at Sainsbury's Pioneer Square - just follow the signs for Pioneer Square as you drive into Bicester and park in the multi-storey car park above the supermarket. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you. You don't need to shop in Sainsbury's to get the free parking! Where to Find Us

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. This year Antique Beat and A Curious Invitation will be hosting The London Month of the Dead, a series of 36 different events investigating the capital’s relationship with its deceased residents. Events will include a private view of the Museum of London’s bone archive, taxidermy workshops, macabre walking tours and private views and a programme of weekend death salons with talks on subjects ranging from public dissection and body snatching to reincarnation and funereal folklore. Each salon will feature a pair of speakers, authorities in fields such as osteology, forensic pathology and the paranormal, who will offer their own perspectives and insights on mortality in the city.There's plenty to learn in this gently uplifting book. Some of Evie King's cases will make you cry, others will make you angry, and some will make you smile - or even *laugh*. Above all, there's nothing morbid or depressing about this book - unless you count the behaviour and attitudes of some of the deceaseds' family members. She clearly cares for her 'clients' and represents an ideal of how such cases should be conducted. You can't fault her personal passion and commitment.