Freeman Brothers is an independent funeral director first established in Horsham, West Sussex, in 1855. The company remains run by a direct descendant of founder, Bede Freeman, and now has a further three offices in Billingshurst, Crawley and Hurstpierpoint. Last week, the team organised the business’s annual Community Remembrance Service. Becky shares a review here…

Our annual Community Remembrance Service took place last week. Since 2022, we’re proud to have run the event with a hybrid offering, welcoming guests in person and via livestream. This wasn’t something we dreamed of when we ran our first event in 2019, but when online was the only option the following year, we got to work on taking a leap.

Offering a livestream makes our event more physically accessible, and for that we are grateful – not everyone is able to travel to join us in person. To join from home, all that’s needed is an internet connection.

Between our colleagues and some special guests, we were able to share a range of poetry readings, musical performances, and a speech. This year, we added some reflections on what our roles mean to us – the script for this section was a collaborative effort, having asked colleagues to share their thoughts on what their role, and working for Freeman Brothers means to them.

In addition, we chose to theme our poems and music around a particular topic for the first time. Many of us have lived in Sussex for the majority of our lives and, with us having access to a variety of landscapes, we share a strong appreciation for these. Lots of us agree that nature has emotional benefits as well as physical ones, and we recognised this as a positive link to journeying through life, overcoming difficult times, and remembering those we miss.

As we have every year, a list of names of those to be remembered was read out. We willingly include both people and pets, as animals are very much part of our families too. After a time to reflect, the Service then continued.

Our musical performances this year came from a group who have happily become regulars! The Phoenix Choir of Crawley delivered a lovely performance of ‘Afton Water’, in keeping with our nature theme. Each year, we have included a performance of ‘Auld Lang Syne’, which we’ve enjoyed by a variety of musicians. The 2024 performance was delivered by the Crawley Handbell Singers, and resonated beautifully in our venue at Hills Cemetery Chapel.

I shared presenting duties this year with Wilf Freeman, who works full-time as a funeral director and is the sixth generation of the Freeman family to work within the business. As Freeman Brothers prepares to mark 170 years of serving our communities in 2025, it seemed like a huge milestone for the company to have endured in this way. This is part of the reason we organise this event, and support our communities in other ways: the business would not still exist were it not for the support of local people who continue to choose our services at their time of need, and so we are keen to give them something back in return.

Last week was also National Grief Awareness Week, a campaign which started in 2019, the same year that we ran our first Community Remembrance Service. It was initially a small campaign, though with a mighty force behind it, and I’ve seen it grow each year. This year, the increase in engagement with it was clear – I’ve  never seen so many social media posts by a broad range of organisations previously. Lots of mental health organisations really engaged with the topic this year – they often support those who are bereaved, and so are keen to help people to better understand the feelings of others and themselves.

At Freeman Brothers, we recognise that grief has no set timeline, and we are willing to continue remembering those who are missed, no matter how long they have already been gone.

If you haven’t yet watched our 2024 Service, you can find it via our YouTube Channel.