NAFD News

NAFD members to trial world class Learning Hub CPD platform

The NAFD is collaborating with the developers of a revolutionary learning platform to create the NAFD Learning Hub - an exciting and bold Continuing Professional Development (CPD) offer for members.

Adaptable to UK working practices and regulations, the NAFD Learning Hub uses virtual reality and 3D models to create highly engaging visual learning scenarios, supported by online assessment, remote invigilation and gap training. The use of virtual reality to aid training and development will be the first of its kind in the UK funeral sector.

For the pilot, a series of 50 courses will be created and grouped into key current industry themes. The feedback from this trial will enable the NAFD to assess if it will provide the right platform for CPD for the entire membership, before the NAFD invests in tailoring the entire system to UK funeral service and practice. The aim is also for the Funeral Learning Hub to provide online CPD companion learning for an expanded NAFD Manual of Funeral Directing – and it will also complement other NAFD qualifications and courses too.

Karen Van-Richardson, Education Development Manager, said: “Many NAFD members invest in their own development and that of their teams already, but this is about taking professional development to the next level in line with changing stakeholder expectations of the sector and the desire of NAFD members to stand head and shoulders above other funeral firms.”

Chair of the Board of Education, Past President Alison Crake, added: “The Funeral Learning Hub is a very exciting opportunity for NAFD members. It will provide straightforward access to a comprehensive and tailored range of courses that are convenient to access, no matter how you and your teams work.

“As the independent regulation of standards is becoming inevitable in the funeral sector, the time is right for the NAFD to add CPD to its suite of qualifications and training, to provide career-long learning opportunities – and help members to demonstrate their up to date knowledge of regulations and standards, together with their capability and experience in caring for bereaved and deceased people.”

More than a thousand visitors already registered for NFE 2022!

Friday 10 – Sunday 12 June 2022, Stoneleigh Park

The anticipation and excitement for the 2022 National Funeral Exhibition, now less than six months away, is building - with more than 1,200 visitors already booked to attend the show.

A respected global platform for the funeral profession and the largest trade show for the sector in the UK, NFE 2022 will showcase the latest, innovative products - inspiring thought leadership and business networking

opportunities to 4,500+ funeral sector professionals.

Suppliers as diverse as vehicle fleets, coffins, caskets, professional equipment suppliers, printing and stationery companies, online memorial services, charities and business advisory firms will be hosting bold and eyecatching stands, demonstrating equipment and showcasing the latest products and skills and services for funeral businesses.

There’s a focus on the visitor experience for the 2022 show, to make sure a trip to the NFE is enjoyable and productive from start to finish. New for NFE 2022, will be the NFE Dining Club: an outdoor food court, surrounded by a tempting range of food stalls offering speciality pizzas, traditional fish and chips, handmade burgers and more – plus an ice-cream vendor in the hope of some early summer sunshine – to ensure there’s something for every taste, whether you’re grabbing a quick break or meeting a prospect for lunch.

Exhibiting at NFE offers a valuable opportunity to showcase products, services and solutions direct to the funeral industry’s most influential buyers and decision makers. Exhibition space in both halls at Stoneleigh Park is now almost completely sold out, with just 17 spots remaining – so if you are keen to make the show part of your 2022 marketing strategy, contact the team today on funeralexhibition@nafd.org. uk to reserve your space.

Join the thousands of others getting ready for NFE 2022. The website is open to reserve your complimentary ticket. Visit www. nationalfuneralexhibition.co.uk today.

DipFD accredited at same level as Certificate of Higher Education

OneAwards, which delivers learning accreditation services on behalf of NOCN, one of the UK’s leading Awarding and Apprenticeship Assessment Organisations, has accredited twelve of the new DipFD learning units at Level 4 – which is equivalent to a Certificate of Higher Education. This is another important milestone in the development of the NAFD’s suite of qualifications. During early 2022, there will be further work to develop the DipFD syllabus, learning materials and assessments to make sure all aspects of the course requirements meet level 4 standards.

Director of Education and Development Karen Van-Richardson said: “As a bespoke qualification, designed to meet the specific career development needs of funeral directors, it was really important that we sought independent quality assurance from OneAwards. We wanted to establish that the DipFD syllabus and required learning was challenging enough and delivered a high standard of learning to students. I am absolutely delighted that we’ve had such a ringing endorsement of the new DipFD and look forward to delivering accreditation for our other new qualifications too.”

Alison Crake, Chair of the Board of Education, added: “This accreditation from OneAwards is excellent news for the NAFD membership and a significant, positive milestone for the NAFD education team and the Board of Education.

“It further highlights our collective, ongoing commitment to providing an exemplary education framework for all funeral service professionals.”

To find out more about the DipFD and all of the NAFD’s qualifications and training, please visit: www.nafdeducation.org.uk

Croeso i Gymru! - NAFD Conference 2022 opens for booking

From Thursday 5 May to Sunday 8 May, NAFD Annual General Meeting & Conference travels to the fantastic Celtic Manor Resort in the beautiful Usk Valley, Wales.

For the first in-person Annual Conference since 2019, we’ve laid on a fantastic three-day event, with the very best of Welsh hospitality, in the homeland of NAFD President Kate Edwards. Although the AGM is for voting members only, the NAFD Conference Education Day, exhibition and social events are open to the whole funeral profession to enjoy.

Highlights include:

• An Education Day designed to enrich understanding of deathcare issues and support continuous learning within the funeral sector, blending speakers, experiential learning, debate and discussion, including: • Dr Jason Shannon, Lead Medical Examiner for

Wales on the rollout of the medical examiner system • The MazWell Group presenting a session on facial reconstruction techniques • Terry Arnett, NPCC Police Dog Chief

Instructor for Warwickshire Police on the role his dogs play in locating deceased persons • Renowned exhumation expert Peter Mitchell on some of the extraordinary projects he has worked on in his career • Carla Valentine, qualified Anatomical

Pathology Technologist, author of Past

Mortems and Technical Curator of the

Victorian Pathology museum, who is researching our relationship with human remains.

The social programme will include an informal BBQ, an evening with Welsh rugby legend and renowned after dinner speaker, international referee Nigel Owens, featuring a Welsh tasting menu and drinks, the President’s Banquet and return of many of the NAFD Conference traditions.

Given the current situation, and although the early signals do look promising, the NAFD is planning the event with a range of COVID scenarios in mind, and will put in place all sensible precautions, applicable at the time, to ensure you can book and attend the event with confidence. If the prevailing Government Guidance in Wales does not permit us to hold the event and the venue cancels our booking, the event will switch to a virtual format and refunds will be available as appropriate.

Carla Valentine

Booking is now open and you can find out more about the programme and book your Conference sessions, social events and accommodation packages on the website: www.nafdconference.co.uk.

Funeral director recognised in New Year’s Honours for supporting the profession during COVID-19

Funeral directors and their teams, across the UK, have played a vital role at the centre of the national response to COVID-19, caring for all those who have died and their bereaved families - often under extremely difficult circumstances.

The NAFD is delighted that Past President Jeremy Field, of CPJ Field & Co - the UK’s oldest family funeral business, has been recognised with an OBE in Her Majesty the Queen’s 2022 New Year’s Honours, for his service to the funeral profession and to the nation during the pandemic.

The NAFD has been extremely fortunate to have been supported throughout COVID-19 by a group of volunteer funeral directors from across the profession, who have provided vital information and shared the experiences of their own businesses - helping the NAFD to advise, reassure and lead the profession through a complex and uncertain time. We simply could not have done it without them.

Jeremy has been at the very centre of this work - giving up hours of his time, frequently on a 24/7 basis and even during much-needed holiday time, to support the profession - despite facing considerable pressures as a working funeral director in his own family business.

He has represented the profession at regular Government briefings – as well as participating in (often daily) NAFD COVIDrelated calls, regularly stepping away from other commitments to ensure questions were answered, meetings attended, interviews given, drafts reviewed or data analysed.

NAFD Chief Executive, Jon Levett, said: “Jeremy’s detailed input to draft government COVID-19 guidance, analysis of the implications of sector capacity data/modelling inputs and pertinent questioning has helped the NAFD to provide trusted counsel to a number of government departments in Westminster as well as the devolved administrations. The deceased management sector has also benefited from his constant watch over key issues; highlighting implications and raising issues with government for early resolution.

“Through his dedicated work, over the course of the pandemic, Jeremy has helped thousands of his fellow funeral directors to provide the best possible care for all those who die and their bereaved families, across the UK, at an unimaginably distressing time.

“It is wonderful to hear that Jeremy’s unstinting willingness to share his time, knowledge and expertise, for the benefit of others, has been acknowledged by HM Queen with this prestigious honour.”Jeremy Field

How we say goodbye can play a large role in how we respond to our loss

Here in Lakelands, hardly a day goes by that we don’t hear someone say, while here for a service, that they’ve never been at a cremation before. However, given the significant increase in cremations over the last year, the numbers on that list are decreasing rapidly. It’s nice to say though that the reactions of those witnessing their first cremation service are almost universally positive. Some may attend and say with increased certainty that it’s not for them, but more and more people come away at the very least considering cremation as a possible end-of-life option.

Many come here, of course, with a very traditional view of funerals: wake in the house or in a funeral home, on to the church or chapel for Mass or Service and then off to the cemetery for burial and while this is still the case for many, changing attitudes in society are showing themselves in our funeral practices. For some, it’s an environmental issue, for others financial, for others still it’s an ideological, philosophical, spiritual or religious matter. In an age where personal expression and identity is so much to the fore, people are wanting their final rites to be a true expression of their individuality, something that comes from them and could only be about them. For the families and friends as well, remembering their loved one and the unique place they had in their lives calls for a service of thanksgiving or remembrance that they could not find in a more traditional setting. Of course, we also see a combining of the traditional and the bespoke here as many of our cremations come from an earlier Mass or religious funeral service and then proceed with prayers here along with eulogies, remembrances and music selections that are more particular to the deceased.

Our main offering here in Lakelands is the opportunity to mark this deeply significant moment in the way that is most appropriate. Whether the deceased person has laid out their plans in advance or if it is the loved ones looking to mark their passing in a way that is fitting of their memory, we are happy to work with families and funeral directors in creating a service that will be both a comfort to the bereaved and a tribute to the one who is gone. It’s important that families are aware of the options open to them when they approach a funeral director. Some may go down the traditional route simply because they don’t realise that they have choices and those choices may go a long way in bringing some comfort to the family, as how we say goodbye can play a large role in how we respond to our loss.

For more information please contact Lakelands Funeral Home and Crematorium on T: 049 436 2200

Email: info@ lakelandscrematorium.ie or visit: www.lakelands crematorium.ie

CASSIDY CHAUFFEUR DRIVE

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