Funeral Directing in the UK through an Ambridge Lens - Abi Pattenden

Welcome to the fifth series in the annual podcast programme from Academic Archers, bringing you papers from our 2024 conference.

This episode takes a lighthearted but well-informed look at funeral directing in Ambridge, using real-world research and practice as its frame.

Funeral Directing in the UK through an Ambridge Lens - Abi Pattenden

What might funeral provision look like in Ambridge? This paper considers current UK funeral trends and applies them to the village’s farming community on the edge of Birmingham.

It imagines how existing Ambridge businesses could diversify: farms becoming natural burial grounds, Fallon catering for funeral receptions, or Brookfield’s barn hosting gatherings. Could the proposed electric charging station even house a funeral directors? Drawing on demographic knowledge, past storylines and sector research, the paper explores how such services might emerge, while also noting how other continuing dramas have embedded funeral businesses into their communities.

About the speaker

• Abi Pattenden has been a Funeral Director for 16 years and served as President of the National Association of Funeral Directors in 2018–19. She has previously presented at Academic Archers on funeral provision for Joe Grundy, Ambridge’s death rates, and on comparing Rob Titchener to Shakespeare’s Iago. Abi has an academic background in Shakespearean theatre and an ongoing research interest in funerals, having co-authored papers on topics such as configurational eulogies and hybrid funerals through Aberdeen University’s Care in Funerals project.

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