Planning your own funeral can be a wise move, since it means that you know you’ll get the sendoff that you want, with all your wishes honoured right down to the letter. And you can also protect your family and friends from hefty financial bills at what will already be an emotionally fraught time by sorting out prepaid funeral plans.
Of course, no one likes to think about a time when they won’t be here but being prepared is key. And if you’ve started planning your own funeral but can’t decide quite how you want it to go, taking a look at this new report from Co-op Funeralcare revealing its 2019 Funeral Music Chart.
This should help you come up with some ideas as to what music you’d like to have played, with Frank Sinatra’s My Way retaining its top spot in the rundown for the third year in a row.
The top ten was made up of Time to Say Goodbye (Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman), Over the Rainbow (Eva Cassidy), Wind Beneath My Wings (Bette Midler), Angels (Robbie Williams), Supermarket Flowers (Ed Sheeran), Unforgettable (Nat King Cole), You Raise Me Up (Westlife), We’ll Meet Again (Vera Lynn) and Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (Eric Idle).
Interestingly, no traditional hymns featured in the top ten – for the first time ever. The likes of Westlife and Ed Sheeran appear to have pushed more traditional music off the list, with new requests identified also including Frey Ridings, Stormzy, Wiz Khalifa and George Ezra. And of those asked, 32 per cent said they’d think about asking a relative to perform.
“We all live such unique lives and funerals should completely reflect that. Each element of a funeral is a very personal decision which is why the music choice plays such an important and impactful role.
“We’re always encouraging people to be more open about their funeral wishes, making it clear to their loved ones what they would want for themselves when the time comes. Even knowing what song someone would have wanted can bring such comfort at an incredibly hard time,” director of funerals at the Co-op David Collingwood said.
This comes after the Co-op Legal Services found that adults in the UK are now putting off preparing for later life because they can’t trust their relatives to manage their finances for them. Some 79 per cent of people over the age of 45 don’t have a lasting power of attorney in place, with 35 per cent saying that there’s someone in their family they wouldn’t trust to give this power to.
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