Introducing our Celebrants: Carolyn Read

My name is Carolyn Read and I am a celebrant at Pettigrew Family Funerals.

I started at Pettigrew in 2009 and have been a celebrant for over 12 years looking after thousands of families.

I love what I do because the most important thing is that a service feels like that person. It might be that I am careful about the tone of my voice or the words that I choose to put together, so that they reflect that person's character and personality, and the way they chose to live their life.

Every person is different, so every service should be different.

In a service, you can have anything you want, and equally, you don't have to have anything you don't want. You can have some prayers. You can decide to have no religion at all. We want it to be everything that you imagined it could be.

My wish is always that as a family is leaving the chapel, they are thinking to themselves or saying to one another. That's just what we wanted for Mum, or Dad would've loved that, and he will be so filthy he missed it. And always remember that even after we have sat down and put together the service that you want for your loved one, you can change anything, alter anything. You can add a speaker, you can change a piece of music. It is never a bother because at the end of the day, we are here when you need us.