Humanist Funerals

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It was Colin's (KP's) funeral this afternoon and many, MANY people turned up, not surprisingly, as he was such a friendly guy and I'm quite fortunate to be one of them, seeing as I've not lived in Carlisle all my life. Anyway, the funeral itself was one of those simple, humanist affairs. A lady stood in front of us all on a stage by the coffin (that was to one side) and it was her job to give us little stories KP's family and friends had given to her during the funeral arrangements. It was obvious by her face that she was a compassionate soul and did KP justice by recounting tales (some of which we didn't know about) to a deeply respectful audience. So impressed were the immediate family that KP's brother got up to applaud the lady, so everyone else followed suit. It was quite moving actually. There were 3 music tracks played unique to KP's taste. There was no reference to God or anything with it being a humanist funeral. At least there was a coffin. John once witnessed a funeral that had a "wicker basket" featured. I asked him if you could see the body and he said, "Nearly but there were lots of flowers covering it." What do you think of humanist funerals? Personally, I have no problem with them. If the person in question did not believe in God (and it's clear the rest of the family didn't either) then that's fair enough. However, there are those that like a more traditional funeral (if 'traditional' is the right word) and I would like a combination of the two, like our wedding. That way you please everybody...sort of. What do you think? By the way, we didn't go to the wake. It was indeed at his local..a MARQUEE at the back of the pub no less. Can't say I'm surprised.