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Creating Inspirational Ceremonies in Cumbria and North Lancashire
My name is Debra Jessett and I run Inspirational Ceremonies from Kendal, Cumbria covering all of South Cumbria and North Lancashire including Windermere, Ambleside, Lancaster, Sedbergh and Ulverston. I am also willing to consider travelling further afield particularly to areas in North Cumbria and North Yorkshire such as Keswick, Penrith and Skipton.
How Inspirational Ceremonies started and why?
I became a Humanist Celebrant when I found, through my own experience, that there is a real need for non-religious ceremonies that also reflect people's individuality and give real meaning to key life events. Many of us feel that a religious ceremony is not appropriate, but that a civil ceremony is not personal enough and lacks meaning.
My journey began with my own daughters' naming ceremony. My husband and I wanted to publicly celebrate the arrival of our two beautiful daughters, but felt a christening wasn't appropriate as we don’t have religious beliefs. By chance, we attended a friend's naming ceremony and as a consequence, decided to hold one for our children. The result was a personal ceremony involving many of our close family and friends, which received wonderful feedback.
The following year I lost my father. He was an atheist but left no specific wishes for his funeral. At the time we were not aware of the different options available and therefore arranged for him to have a simple ceremony conducted by the local vicar at the crematorium. His ceremony was personalised by family and friends who took part, including myself. Although it was difficult I am glad that I took the opportunity to express what he meant to me and to remember the happy times we had shared as a family.
As a result of these experiences, I began researching non-religious ceremonies and their availability both here and abroad. I discovered the British Humanist Association and decided to train with them to becoame a Humanist Celebrant.
My aim is to make Humanist Ceremonies accessible to people from all walks of life.
I am now offering you my skills and experience to inspire you to create a personal ceremony of your choice that celebrates your life or the life of a loved one. I look forward to meeting you.
What is a Humanist Ceremony?
Humanist ceremonies are non-religious and therefore have no worship or fixed rituals. They are based on what we all have in common – our humanity and human values. Humanism aims to reach out to everyone and religious people often comment on how inspired they have been by a Humanist Ceremony, and how closely they could relate to all that took place.
You don't have to be a humanist yourself to have a Humanist Ceremony - they are appropriate for anyone who would like a non-religious ceremony. The only guideline that exists is that they do not contain any religious content such as prayers or hymns. Sometimes families of mixed religious beliefs choose a humanist ceremony because they can all agree on the non-religious, personal content.
What all Humanist Ceremonies have in common is that they are always created for the people involved, so each one is unique and personal. The British Humanist Association has been at the forefront of delivering non-religious ceremonies, in the U.K, for the last thirty years. It has a worldwide reputation of training celebrants to write and deliver ceremonies of the highest quality and standard.
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