Ashes To Admin: Tales from the Caseload of a Council Funeral Officer

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Imagine having that sentence said to you. And then imagine it actually being pertinent. Welcome to Evie King’s world. Evie's memoir of a life spent organising what were until recently still known as 'pauper's funerals' is by turns hilarious and heartfelt. It lifts the lid on the lives, and more importantly the deaths, of our country's forgotten people, dignifying them, and shaming our nation. It's a cliché, but I laughed and I cried and I realised I have wasted my life. A kind of campaigning journalism written in the witty and waspish tone of the funniest woman in the workplace, it should be essential reading for policy makers. I can't recommend this book enough. A Road To Wigan Pier for post-Brexit Britain. Poverty Porn in reverse, raising the spirits, dignifying the human experience, and demanding action' As someone who works at a Council and studied death culture at university, it was probably inevitable that I would find Ashes to Admin immensely enjoyable. For further proof of the nature of the book, consider the reviewers chosen and whose comments are printed on the covers and inside the book:

As we drove away I thought about all of the atypical types of grief and mourner I had come across so far, so different from the pre-conceived familial norms. Care home staff, neighbours, garden club members, local bus drivers. There were a thousand ways to be mourned, the benchmark didn’t have to be weeping spouses or devastated children” The Top 25 Christmas Cookbooks for 2023: A Smorgasbord of Inspiration for a Happy Foodie This Christmas In this talk, Evie lifts the coffin lid on the world of a council funeral officer, a job that lurches from the legislative and administrative, via the workaday and practical, right through to the emotional and existential. Her stories are sometimes tragic, as with the case of an unidentified woman found on a beach buried without even a name, but often uplifting and occasionally hilarious. Ashes to Admin lifts the coffin lid on some moving and unexpected personal life stories. Sometimes tragic, as with the case of an unidentified woman found on a beach buried without even a name, but often uplifting and occasionally hilarious. The author instils the stories of those who have received a Section 46 Council funeral with a level of humour which makes what at times can be quite an emotional read also a very funny one.Imagine a life without the presence of family or friends; you sadly pass away alone and your life remains unrecognised, neglected as if never to be heard again. Thanks to Evie King an inspiring local council worker in charge of carrying out Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act, these individuals’ lives are not forgotten (and other Council Funeral Officers of course!).

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: The Ultimate Guide to Celebrating Christmas with the Best Drinks Books On The Shelves As she learns on the job, her story is told through a series of case studies, from bodies discovered at home, to deaths in care homes, and on through to the outbreak of Covid, this is an insight into the way death is dealt with on a political and personal level. Where care homes have agreements with funeral homes, where families are embarrassed because they can't pay for a loved one's funeral, and the care a council can give. The idea of a paupers' funeral, even now, gives pause. I am asking because my dad was estranged from his sister, my aunt, who I never met. He had wanted to see her again when he was dying but I didn't know how to find her. However, last year I discovered she had passed away early in 2022 and so sent for her death certificate. Sadly it contains similar words, "causing the body to be cremated" and I suspect the person who did that may have a similar role to yourself. I would like to know where my aunt's final resting place is. I have this slight concern of what if her ashes are unclaimed somewhere. I just want to know she's been laid to rest properly somewhere and to feel she is at peace. It isn't your name on the certificate but I thought you may be able to advise/help me” King talks about her early days in the job, and with each case, we see her expertise and knowledge developing and growing. She learns how to become immune to the "smell of death" to maggots in months'-old food and, in the process, realises that she possesses a talent for organising respectful funerals for the dispossessed dead. What happens if you die without family or money? The answer to this very three-in-the-morning question is that Evie, or someone like her, will step in and arrange your funeral. Evie is a local council worker charged with carrying out Section 46 funerals under the Public Health Act. Or to put it in less cold, legislative language; funerals for those with nobody around, willing or able to bury or cremate them.King makes you consider the pros and cons of age. Referring to one of her people ‘ She had evidently, at 99 years old, outlived everyone. A downside to longevity that people sometimes don’t consider, and something that is striven for blindly in our life-at-all-costs culture.’ This really jumped out at me, as I often feel that people focus on lifespan and not the value and quality of life we have. One thing I soon learned from reading this book is that Section 46 funerals are nothing like the dismal image of a pauper's funeral that I had in my head. If the deceased has left behind documentation relating to their wishes concerning their committal, those wishes will be carried out: if there's no such information, or the deceased's identity is unknown, they will still receive a dignified send-off. I found the author's attitude to dying to be positively infectious, so the book has probably had a lasting impact on the ways in which I think about death and dying, as well as making the most out of living. Evie King is the pen name of Christina Martin. She is a former stand up comedian and a part-time writer. She has always written short form pieces, in the margins of her various day jobs, contributing to New Humanist, Guardian Comment is Free, BBC Comedy and Viz Comic. Since moving to the seaside and going part-time she has had more time for writing which has accumulated in Ashes to Admin. What happens if you die without family or money? The answer to this very three-in-the-morning question is that Evie, or someone like her, will step in and arrange your funeral.

Read on for a remarkable discovery into our world of mourning and sorrow through King’s compassionate words! Ashes to Admin shows how precarious life and death can be. In a gentle and funny tone Evie King highlights both the bureaucracy and the humanity that is behind funerals organised under Section 46.Every effort to admit latecomers will be made at a suitable break in the event, but admission cannot always be guaranteed. As is noted by radical undertaker Ru Callender in What Remains?, the UK funeral industry can be a expensive minefield. Ashes to Admin shows the consequences of the costly world of funerals. To be responsible for a funeral increasingly can cause people to get into debt. Funeral poverty is a growing issue, and can be one of the reasons why people will receive a Section 46 funeral; families can simply not afford it. A huge amount of shame comes with not being able to give family member a ‘proper’ send off. In Ashes to Admin, Evie shows, however, that very few people aren’t loved, but that mourners can take various shapes. The effect of people’s deaths can ripple far beyond the stereotypical expectation of family: