jazz band theme funeral

Jazz Band for a funeral service

A funeral should be as individual and unique as the person who has died and there are families who choose the funeral to be a celebration of the life that has been lived and wish to portray often an outgoing and colourful character or maybe, a real music lover with a jazz band for a funeral service.

Daniel Ross Funerals are proud to work alongside a traditional four piece jazz quartet (comprising of Trumpet, Trombone, Banjo and French Horn) who are able to play a medley of traditional jazz music such as “When the Saints go marching in…..”  and  “Down by the Riverside…..”  (to name but a couple) as the funeral cortege arrives and leaves the home address and on arrival at the Crematorium or Cemetery.

In addition, the quartet are only to happy to meet any specific or unusual requirements.

For further information and pricing on a jazz band for a funeral service, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 


Funerals in Sutton Coldfield – Poems

For families needing to arrange funerals in Sutton Coldfield, we offer unlimited support and guidance.
Here is a small selection of poems that we hope may be useful or possibly provide a small amount of comfort at this very difficult time.
Do Not Stand At My Grave and Weep
Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn’s rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there.
I did not die.

Mary Frye

Death Is Nothing At All
Death is nothing at all
I have only slipped away into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other
That we are still
Call me by my old familiar name
Speak to me in the easy way you always used
Put no difference into your tone
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed
At the little jokes we always enjoyed together
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was
Let it be spoken without effort
Without the ghost of a shadow in it
Life means all that it ever meant
It is the same as it ever was
There is absolute unbroken continuity
What is death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind
Because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you for an interval
Somewhere very near
Just around the corner
All is well.
Nothing is past; nothing is lost
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!

Canon Henry Scott-Holland

She Is Gone (He Is Gone)
You can shed tears that she is gone
Or you can smile because she has lived
You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her
Or you can be full of the love that you shared
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday
You can remember her and only that she is gone
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

David Harkins

 

Let Me Go

 

When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom filled room
Why cry for a soul set free?
Miss me a little, but not for long
And not with your head bowed low
Remember the love that once we shared
Miss me, but let me go.
For this is a journey we all must take
And each must go alone.
It’s all part of the master plan
A step on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick at heart
Go the friends we know.
Laugh at all the things we used to do
Miss me, but let me go.
When I am dead my dearest
Sing no sad songs for me
Plant thou no roses at my head
Nor shady cypress tree
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet
And if thou wilt remember
And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not fear the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on as if in pain;
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Happily I may remember,
And happily may forget.

Christina Rosetti

 

Remember

 

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

Christina Rosetti

Our memories build a special bridge
When loved ones have to part
To help us feel were with them still
And soothe a grieving heart
They span the years and warm our lives
Preserving ties that bind
Our memories build a special bridge
And bring us peace of mind

Emily Mathews

There is no night without a dawning
No winter without a spring
And beyond the dark horizon
Our hearts will once more sing ….
For those who leave us for a while
Have only gone away
Out of a restless, care worn world
Into a brighter day

Helen Steiner Rice

You’ve just walked on ahead of me
And I’ve got to understand
You must release the ones you love
And let go of their hand.
I try and cope the best I can
But I’m missing you so much
If I could only see you
And once more feel your touch.
Yes, you’ve just walked on ahead of me
Don’t worry I’ll be fine
But now and then I swear I feel
Your hand slip into mine.
If I should die before the rest of you
Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone
Nor, when I’m gone, speak in a Sunday voice,
But be the usual selves that I have known.
Weep if you must
Parting is hell.
But life goes on.
So sing as well.

Joyce Grenfell

If I should die and
Leave you here awhile
Be not like others sore undone,
Who keep long vigils
By the silent dust and weep.
For my sake turn again
To life and smile
Nerving thy heart
And trembling hand to do
Something to comfort
Other hearts than thine.
Complete these dear
Unfinished Tasks of mine,
And I, perchance
May therein comfort you.

Mary Lee Hall

When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget..
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain;
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember
And haply may forget.

Christina Rossetti

At every turning of my life
I came across
Good friends,
Friends who stood by me
Even when the time raced me by.
Farewell, farewell
My friends
I smile and
Bid you goodbye.
No, shed no tears
For I need them not
All I need is your smile.
If you feel sad
Do think of me
For that’s what I’ll like.
When you live in the hearts
Of those you love
Remember then
You never die.

Rabindranath Tagore

Not, how did he die, but how did he live?
Not, how did he die, but how did he live?
Not, what did he gain, but what did he give?
These are the units to measure the worth
Of a man as a man, regardless of his birth.
Nor what was his church, nor what was his creed?
But had he befriended those really in need?
Was he ever ready, with words of good cheer,
To bring back a smile, to banish a tear?
Not what did the sketch in the newspaper say,
But how many were sorry when he passed away?

Anonymous

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

e.e.cummings

What though the radiance which was once so bright
Be now forever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind.

William Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality

And when the stream that overflows has passed,
A consciousness remains upon the silent shore of memory;
Images and precious thoughts that shall not be
And cannot be destroyed.

William Wordsworth, from The Excursion

A Reflection on an Autumn Day
I took up a handful of grain and let it slip flowing through my fingers, and I said to myself
This is what it is all about. There is no longer any room for pretence. At harvest time the essence is revealed – the straw and chaff are set aside, they have done their job. The grain alone matters – sacks of pure gold.
So it is when a person dies the essence of that person is revealed. At the moment of death a person’s character stands out happy for the person who has forged it well over the years. Then it will not be the great achievement that will matter, nor, how much money or possessions a person has amassed. These like the straw and the chaff, will be left behind. It is what he has made of himself that will matter. Death can take away from us what we have, but it cannot rob us of who we are.
Footprints on the sands of time
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, — act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends It gives a lovely light!

Edna St.Vincent Millay

Readings With Faith
“…You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot
unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death,
open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.In the depth of your hopes and desires
lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow, your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity…For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides,
that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance…”

Kahlil Gibran

We seem to give them back to Thee, 0 God who gayest them to us.
Yet as Thou didst not lose them in giving,
So do we not lose them by their return.
Not as the world giveth, givest Thou 0 Lover of souls.
What Thou givest Thou takest not away,
For what is Thine is ours also if we are thine.
And life is eternal and love is immortal,
And death is only an horizon,
And an horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.
Lift us up, strong Son of God that we may see further;
Cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly;
Draw us closer to Thyself
That we may know ourselves to be nearer to our loved ones who are with Thee.
And while Thou dost prepare a place for us, prepare us also for that happy place,
That where Thou art we may be also for evermore.

Bishop Brent

A ship sails and I stand watching till she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says She is gone
Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large now as when I last saw her. Her diminished size and total loss from my sight is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says she is gone there are others who are watching her coming over their horizon and other voices take up a glad shout There she comes!
That is what dying is. An horizon and just the limit of our sight. Lift us up, Oh Lord, that we may see further

Bishop Brent

 

Irish Blessing

 

May the roads rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
May the rains fall soft upon fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Anon

Tis only we who grieve
They do not leave
They are not gone
They look upon us still
They walk among the valleys now
They stride upon the hill
Their smile is in the summer sky
Their grace is in the breeze
Their memories whisper in the grass
Their calm is in the trees
Their light is in the winter snow
Their tears are in the rain
Their merriment runs in the brook
Their laughter in the lane
Their gentleness is in the flowers
They sigh in autumn leaves
They do not leave
They are not gone
Tis only we who grieve
If only we could see the splendour of the land
To which our loved ones are called from you and me
We’d understand
If only we could hear the welcome they receive
From old familiar voices all so dear
We would not grieve
If only we could know the reason why they went
We’d smile and wipe away the tears that flow
And wait content.

Anon

When we lose a loved one
Our world just falls apart
We think that we cant carry on
With this broken heart
Everything is different now
You’re upset and you’re annoyed
Your world it seems is shattered
There’s such an awful void
There’s got to be a reason
And we have to understand
God made us and at any time
Hell reach down for our hand
There might not be a warning
We won’t know where or when
The only thing were certain of
Is well meet them once again.

Anon

Responses for a Burial
Into the darkness and warmth of the earth
We lay you down
Into the sadness and smiles of our memories
We lay you down
Into the cycle of living and dying and rising again
We lay you down
May you rest in peace, in fulfilment, in loving
May you run straight home in God’s embrace

Ruth Burgess

Responses for a Cremation
Into the freedom of wind and sunshine
We let you go
Into the dance of the stars and the planets
We let you go
Into the wind’s breath and the hands of the star maker
We let you go
We love you, we miss you, we want you to be happy
Go safely, go dancing, go running home

Ruth Burgess

God looked around his garden
And found an empty place,
He then looked down upon the earth
And saw your tired face.
He put his arms around you
And lifted you to rest.
God’s garden must be beautiful
He always takes the best.
He knew that you were suffering
He knew you were in pain.
He knew that you would never
Get well on earth again.
He saw the road was getting rough
And the hills were hard to climb.
So he closed your weary eyelids
And whispered, ‘Peace be Thine’.
It broke our hearts to lose you
But you didn’t go alone,

For part of us went with you, the day called you home.

 

 

For further support and guidance on arranging funerals in Sutton Coldfield, please contact Daniel Ross Funerals on 0121 313 0054


Specialist Services and Repatriation

We are proud to be qualified and experienced Funeral Directors, able to provide a traditional funeral service to a very high standard, but also to turn our hands to the more unusual requests that require the attention of an undertaker such as advising families regarding repatriation.

If you require one of these services then please contact us for help and advice. We will have to take some information from you in order to provide a personalised quotation.


Funeral Service in Sutton Coldfield

The old fashioned “Funeral parlour” has now been replaced by a funeral home, where the deceased can rest and their family welcomed. We offer the complete funeral service in Sutton Coldfield at Grace Mary House, our funeral home, and have an emphasis on high standards of care for your family and a funeral to be proud of. We are extremely proud of the funeral services we offer and believe them to be some of the best available.

All of the Daniel Ross team strive to help you in your time of need, and to ensure we provide the utmost level of care and service, we always follow our own set of quality standards which includes the feedback we get from the families we serve. Excerpts from this feedback can be found in our Testimonials section.

Arrangements for a funeral service in Sutton Coldfield may be made at our funeral home on Eachelhurst Road, Walmley, West Midlands or we can come to your home if you would prefer.

  • We offer a 24 hour cover service, every day of the year including Bank Holidays.
  • Your loved one will be brought to Grace Mary House as soon as possible, and will rest there until the day of the funeral.
  • Your family will receive the highest care from fully qualified  and licensed staff
  • We provide a wide choice of coffins and caskets and will aim to fulfill any special request or bespoke item.
  • As members of the Association of Green Funeral Directors we also offer the choice of an evironmentally friendly funeral, tailored to your requirements.
  • We use Daimler hearses and limousines, with traditionally attired chauffeurs and bearers as standard for all of our funerals.
  • Fresh flowers and floral tributes are created by our own in house florist, who can meet with you to discuss your requirements.
  • Dedicated private Chapels of Rest to spend time with your loved one.
  • Large Chapel to hold the funeral service for small family and private funerals.
  • A private lounge is available as a pre-funeral assembly room or for gatherings when visiting the Chapel of Rest.
  • Placement of all newspaper notices on your behalf, including funeral announcements and acknowledgements.
  • Printing of mourning stationery from a wide range of choices and bespoke full colour designs.
  • Advise on catering and funeral venues within your local area.
  • A full monumental service from a family owned, BRAMM registered memorial mason
  • Private Parking
  • The personal involvement of a Funeral Director in overseeing the care of you, your family and your loved one to ensure that the funeral is conducted to your requirements and in a manner that is befitting to the deceased.
  • Open and honest receipt of In Memoriam donations.
  • Family to family specialist care

Daniel Ross Funerals would be honoured to serve you and your family in your time of need and to excel your expectations by providing a truly personal funeral service in Sutton Coldfield.


“Personal Wishes” Pre Planning

Some people have difficulty making their wishes known to their loved ones, others want to seek advice and assistance from a Funeral Director before the funeral is needed but do not require a pre-paid arrangement. You may know about the personal wishes of your loved one regarding what they would like at their funeral and wish to record their wishes whilst emotionally able.

Funeral wishes are often included in Wills, but this is not always appropriate as the content of the Will is sometimes not known until after the funeral has taken place.

Whatever the circumstances, if you know how you would like the funeral to occur and want to record your “Personal Wishes” with Daniel Ross Funerals, for future plans, then please contact us.

We can provide relevant documentation to ensure a record of your “Personal Wishes” is kept at our Eachelhurst Road, Sutton Coldfield funeral home. Additional copies can be made for your records.

No payment towards the funeral is needed until the funeral is needed. Once your wishes are recorded with us all you need to do is let your next of kin or executor know.

Your wishes can be added to and changed by you at anytime, without penalty.

There is no obligation with this arrangement, and it is a service provided free of charge, for your peace of mind.