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 a field particularly to areas in North Cumbria and North Yorkshire such as Keswick, Penrith and Skipton.

How Inspirational Ceremonies started and why?

My name is Debra Jessett and I became a Humanist Celebrant as 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. For many of us a religious ceremony is not appropriate, but also feel 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 just wasn't appropriate. By chance, we attended a friend's naming ceremony and as a consequence, decided to hold one ourselves. The result was a personal ceremony involving many of our close family and friends, which received wonderful feedback from both non-religious and religious guests alike. I was inspired.

As a result, three years later, I began researching non-religious ceremonies and their availability both here and abroad.  It was then that I discovered the British Humanist Association and decided to train with them to became a celebrant.  My aim now is to make Humanist Ceremonies accessible to people from all walks of life.

However, at the time I found that it was very difficult to find any information or help to arrange such a ceremony. Many of us would like to choose an alternative to what is generally on offer, but just don't know where to start. It is particularly over-facing when you have the responsibility of a young family.

My aim now 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. 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.