A beautiful natural burial for Dawn in Northumberland
Sue from North Tyneside shares memories of her friend Dawn’s beautiful natural burial in Northumberland, which will live long in her memory as the perfect way to say goodbye.
It was a rainy day in Northumberland as a group of us gathered for the burial of our friend Dawn. She had not wanted a formal ceremony, only a Northumbrian piper to play her to the grave. She didn’t really expect anyone to be there so had planned what should happen with the minimum of ‘fuss’. That was very characteristic of her, she had decided and paid for it all a year before she died. We wanted to respect her wishes but it was important to us to make sure she had a dignified and meaningful goodbye.
As much of her life as possible had been spent outdoors, she was a serious hiker, mountain climber and camper as well as an outdoor swimmer. During Covid she had been housebound and had hardly been able to go out since as Parkinson’s disease progressed. Very hard for someone who lived for wild, open spaces. It was a tremendous privilege to be with her the night before she died, reading to her from The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd about the Cairngorms which she knew and loved.
On the day of her funeral we smiled at the rain for it seemed fitting, weather had never stopped her doing anything. The piper played distinctive Northumbrian music as she walked up the drive in front of the hearse to where we waited. She continued to play as we followed Dawn’s wicker coffin, adorned with the green wreath that one of us had made for her, across the grass to the grave. We needed to wear boots and waterproofs which Dawn would have loved as that was always her preferred clothing. Somehow that seemed both significant and poignant, and it wouldn’t have happened if it had been a formal indoor funeral.
She specifically hadn’t wanted a religious ceremony but we asked a minister who knew her and respected her wishes to lead us in some thoughts and words as we remembered her. He gave a sensitive account of her life and we read from The Prophet by Kahlil Gilbran and some of the passages from The Living Mountain that we had read to her as she lay dying. No tributes or memories, we’d decided they would come at the pub where we were to share lunch informally afterwards. As we left the grave, we dropped wild flowers onto her coffin.
As we thanked the funeral director, he said to us that he wished more people would have a green burial as it is so straightforward and meaningful. He clearly appreciated it from a professional point of view. For most of us it was our first experience of a green burial and will remain long in my memory as being the perfect way of saying goodbye to our friend.
Our thanks to Sue for sharing this moving story with us. If you or someone you know has chosen natural burial, we would love to hear about your experience and the reasons behind this choice. Get in touch if you would like to share your story.
