Information for Parishoners and Funeral Directors

Services in Church

 

St Nicholas' church yard has a limited number of spaces remaining for people who live or die in the parish.

 

We are very keen and willing to have services at St Nicholas’s church.  We prefer services at St Nicholas’ to be after 1pm if possible due to car parking clashes with our pre school.  We are able to accommodate earlier in the day by arrangement if required but there are no bathroom facilities until the Pre School has concluded..

 

Please ensure that the cortège parks at the lynch gate at the front of the churchyard.  Pulling into the car park creates enormous congestion problems, is inappropriately close to our pre school and does not carry the same dignity as entering church from the front.

 

We do not keep trestles in church so we are always grateful to funeral directos who bring thier own.  Please ensure we know if you need us to acquire some or yours are unavailable for any reason.

 

Fees & Other Details

 

Our organist fee for playing at a service is £70.  Our Verger fee is £40 and our clergy travel expenses our £20.  Please bring these as cash in a seperate envelope.

 

We permit recorded music in church and have the facility to play most CDs.  We like to have a copy in advance to check its compatibility with our system.  We do not charge any extra for this service.

 

Please make all cheques payable to 'Paul Hamilton's Church Fees Account'.  This enables the secretary to administer the monies towards the Diocese and the PCC.

 

We do allow a collection box in church for the families chosen charity but ask for a 50/50 split towards the ongoing work of the church.  All other fees are listed on our fees page

 

Monday is the Rector's day off so please leave a message on his voice mail.  In an emergency he can be contacted on 07854 214409 or by email.

 

During times of holiday or sickness we are happy for any licensed Anglican minister to conduct funeral services in church.  Brentwood Deanery ministers are contactable by visiting www.deaneryofbrentwood.co.uk

 

Garden of Remembrance

 

The garden of remembrance is available for the burial of cremated remains upon request.  Due to limited space we restrict this to the parish of St Nicholas’ only.  Ashes are poured into ground rather than buried in containers; however we will consider allowing the burial of bio degradable containers if pouring is particularly distressing for families, but this must be by prior arrangement.

 

Parish Boundaries

 

We are grateful for the opportunity to minister to all the bereaved people within our parishes irrespective of religious affiliation or none.  If people request another Christian minister we would still value the opportunity to pray for families and we would be grateful to receive contact information if they are willing for us to have it.  This also gives us the opportunity to invite people to our annual All Souls service whether we’ve conducted the funeral or not.

 

If you are unable to cover services from another parish then please feel free to contact us and we will do our best to help.

 

Church Yard Policy - please click here to download our church yard policy

 

Diocesan Guidelines - please click here to download the Diocesan Church Yard Handbook