Streaming COVID-19 Funerals

Planning a funeral for our loved ones is one of the toughest things at the best of times.

Planning the funeral, the wake, registering the death, collecting the death certificate, meeting the funeral director etc, are all tasks that keep us busy when we are bereaved, and whether we are aware of it or not, can help us to begin the grieving process.

Planning a funeral during the Covid-19 pandemic has brought significant changes to the whole process. One key point is that funeral numbers are limited. At the time of writing this, the current maximum people allowed to attend a funeral is 30. However, it is always best to check with the venue on their own restrictions in case the numbers are lower than the legal allowance to allow for social distancing. 

Because of the limited numbers of people now allowed to attend a funeral, many families are choosing to stream services online. Whilst this time last year, the very thought of streaming a funeral online would not have seemed so necessary, it is now a lovely way to ensure that everyone who wants to pay their respects has the opportunity to do so – safe and secure in the comfort of their own home. It also means that wherever you are in the world, providing you have a secure internet connection, all of your friends and family can be present. 

One family who were struggling to come to terms with how few people would actually be attending the ceremony because close family lived many miles away and travelling wasn’t really an option, recently streamed their dad’s funeral online and said how comforting it was to receive comments afterwards from people who had watched. In the absence of not being able to hold a wake, hearing from people who had watched online has helped them to feel that their dad had the send off that he deserved – albeit with people watching remotely rather than gathering to pay their respects. 

Do we think that watching a funeral online is the way forward? Who knows, but it certainly does have its place. What we also know is that in this current climate, being able to have everyone present - wherever they are based - really does allow everyone to be able to say their goodbyes safely and in turn, bring some level of comfort to the family. 

Here at Pearce Funeral Services, we offer families the option to stream the ceremony.  Our live stream service has a unique website address specifically for each individual funeral and is password protected, ensuring that privacy and dignity is maintained, the service is also then recorded to be viewed, if required, at a later date. We will be very happy to discuss this with you in more detail.