Funeral Celebrant In Gloucestershire

About Susanna Watson

Funeral Celebrant

Training to be a funeral celebrant grew out of my experience working at Dorothy House Hospice. I worked there first as a social worker and then as team lead for the Family Support services, with overall responsibility for counselling, spiritual care and bereavement support.

Some of my work at Dorothy House was supporting families in financial difficulties associated with the end of life.   As a result I'm committed to planning lower cost celebrations when needed.

I finished my celebrancy training with Green Fuse in October 2021 and, since then, have been taking funerals in and around Bath.  Many of these have been at Haycombe, but I've also led celebrations of life in natural and woodland burial grounds, in a farmer's field, at a hotel and in a local art gallery.

I find it a real privilege to be present at such a difficult time, to listen to people's memories and feelings and to help put together a ceremony which allows family and friends to grieve and to celebrate.

I first came to Bath to work for the Bath International Music Festival, but then retrained as an adult social worker. Although I no longer practise, I am still registered and have a current DBS certificate. I continue to work a few days a month as a clinical supervisor at Dorothy House, providing support to groups of nurses and other health professionals.

My own roots are in the Christian tradition, but I am equally at home taking funerals which are non-religious or which reflect other spiritual or religious faiths.

I am a member of the Association of Independent Celebrants and the Good Funeral Guild, a collective of like-minded people working to change funerals for the better.   I have also signed up to the Funeral Celebrancy Council’s Funeral Celebrant Accord.

I am also a musician and a confident singer, so happy to sing on my own or lead singing at funerals.

To find out more about funeral celebrants and how I can help you plan and lead a funeral ceremony or celebration of life, get in touch.

Susanna Watson Funeral Celebrant
Green Fuse
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Association of Independent Celebrants
  • Thank you so much for everything you did for us today. We've had such a great response from all the relatives in far flung places and of course from those who were at today's funeral, and you were the very core of this. You have an art in piecing together the information that we discussed with you and as a result we could not have happier with the end result.
  • A big thank you for all you did for us. A service delivered with love and compassion. Perfectly framed to convey my father's spirit. I think I had five people come up to me afterwards who said it was the best funeral they had been to.
  • We would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts….you were so attentive to our needs…and helped us to craft a ceremony which was truly a worthy tribute to our mum and dad…and you delivered their story with such clarity, dignity and genuine expression….You made that part of the process of dealing with their passing so much easier and lighter for us. Thank so, so much.
  • I would like to say a huge thanks for all your support & kindness shown before & throughout my father’s funeral. Guiding us through what was always going to be a difficult day was so helpful & your calmness most definitely helped me get me words out!! You were amazing- thanks so much.
  • I just wanted to say thank you again for crafting such a special service for my mum last Friday. I had been dreading the funeral and knew I would be emotional. You made the occasion such a positive experience, so much so that I have re- run your words, the readings and music in my head many times. I know my mum would have loved the service too and in fact I felt she was very much there with us all.
  • I wanted to write to thank you for your wonderful support, guidance and ultimately celebration of B’s life. I think he would have been very happy with the ‘send-off’ that we gave him and that was due in great part to the time and thought that you gave to us in the process. Thank you!
  • I just wanted to say thank you for your wonderful job in putting together a most beautiful service for Mum. Everyone said how lovely it was and meant it. It was very moving, sensitive and absolutely right. I feel that we were all very lucky that you were able to arrange this for us. Thank you again, very sincerely.
  • I cannot believe you summed her up so well and everyone said how wonderful you were. My Mum would have loved you as a person too, I cannot thank you enough for the most amazing service.... I feel so pleased that her send off was so lovely.
  • Thank you for the copy of the script of B’s Celebration. It was a pleasure talking to you about B and you made what could have been a sad occasion into a true celebration for us.
    Memorial Services In Bath By Independent Funeral Celebrant
    It is as natural to die as it is to be born.  Death is no more our enemy than the clouds or the earth are our enemies. Death is the background against which life can shine.

    Contact Susanna

    To find out more about how I can help you with the planning of a funeral or celebration of life service, please contact me for a confidential and friendly conversation. You can call me on 07582 019 359 or fill out the form below with as much detail as possible. I look forward to hearing from you.