“You know there are some people that pass through your life with a purpose! What you did today was with compassion, and heartfelt empathy. Keep doing what you do, because you are compassionate, sympathetic, and human and lovingly get what people want! Thanks you so much for your support and words!”
“Just a quick note to say thanks so much for yesterday – it was all exactly right. Was never going to be easy, but having it feel exactly as I think mum would have wanted meant that it genuinely felt as much of a celebration as a mournful event. And your suggestion of having everything written down was so right – would have been easy with everything going on to leave the words until the last minute, but having them prepared actually removed a source of stress.”
“Just a quick message to thank you for all your assistance during the preparation of mums service and the excellent way the service was conducted. We received numerous positive comments about the service and it was fitting way to send mum off. Thank you again.”
“Just wanted to say a big thank you again for the lovely service you carried out at Mum's funeral last Thursday. We are very grateful for your help planning the service and reading the Eulogy which was perfect, and we're glad the service was at the East Devon Crematorium - it had a feeling of openness, lots of natural light, and sunshine! Mum would have liked that”
“Just again, to thank you so much for making Mum's celebration of her life so memorable, it could not have gone better. It must take a special talent to do what you do, because each occasion is special and personal to the families involved. And you made us feel that you cared. Thank you so much from myself and all our family and friends.”
Mark was absolutely brilliant throughout.He was patient,sympathetic,very easy to talk to and captured my aunt's life completely. Her mum is 93 and a traditionalist and we were concerned about her feelings about such an unconventional service which is exactly what my aunt planned. She thought the whole day was wonderful thanks to Mark.He’s an amazing ambassador for the civil funeral service."
"I had never organised a funeral before so Mark was very friendly and professional in guiding us through the appropriate content and timings of the service. Myself and family agreed that the whole ceremony was a perfect reflection of my wife's life with a touch of humour, yet respectful and dignified. Friends and neighbours who attended also agreed. My wife was not a religious person so Mark's Civil Funeral was exactly what she would have wished for."
"The service was absolutely wonderful, my brother would have loved it, we all did, it was perfect." "I can assure you that myself, my family and everyone I have spoken to since thought the service was very pertinent to my sister's life and entirely appropriate and dignified. I was very glad afterwards that you had gently suggested that I should say some words. It made the service very personal to me."
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"The whole family and I were very pleased with the service, feeling it allowed us to pay tribute to him in the way we had hoped. We appreciated the way you conducted it, with dignity and evident regard for our sorrow. For my part, I was most grateful for the care you took in reading my words. Beforehand, we had greatly valued your help and advice in preparing the service: thank you."
"I am writing on behalf of myself ,my wife and the rest of the family to convey our heartfelt gratitude and thanks to you for the kind and sensitive way in which you recently conducted the service for my father in law. Your calm re-assurance and helpful guidance throughout the process , both in its planning and in the conducting of the service itself , really helped us and made what was inevitably a difficult time for us so much easier to deal with." "I would like to thank you on behalf of me my brother and sister for such a wonderful service you conducted today for our mum. It was absolutely fantastic and a wonderful service....thank you so much." "We would also like to thank you for all the care you took over the service and with our family, mum would have been very proud."
"Thank you once again for a wonderful service.With your invaluable help we gave her the send off she wanted. Everyone we spoke to on the day and since have said how lovely it was and Mum who as you know is 93 was absolutely thrilled which meant so much to all of us." "Thank you once again for your part in making my husband’s funeral such a fitting and moving occasion." "Me and mum were so happy with the the service and a few of the other people that attended also commented what a lovely send off we gave dad." "May I take this opportunity to thank you for the kind, comprehensive and professional way in which you guided us through, and orchestrated my uncle's funeral"
"Mark was a wonderful Celebrant, took time to get all the information needed, kept in contact throughout the process, was helpful, informative and supportive and delivered a thoughtful and lovely service. I would highly recommend Mark to anyone wishing to have a Civil Service, he was fantastic." "As far as funerals go, we were very pleased with the ceremony. Everybody commented that he’d got our relative down to a tee. There were several remarks from people saying that would be the kind of service they would want for themselves."
"Mark was absolutely above & beyond expectation immediately from the moment we were put in touch with him. Honestly I can't sing his praises enough. He took on board everything that was told to him & nobody could believe that Mark hadn't known us all for years. To my husband arriving 'late' to the colour of his tie - all names, messages from Australia & to his love of 'Converse ' all beautifully put into his service. Also his 'cornucopia' (Mark's word) of hoard in his garage, to which Mark assured everyone, that that was true as he'd seen it. This was an extremely sad day for us all but Mark made it bearable. Truly lovely caring man & we are so glad we had him on the day"
“I just wanted to thank you for helping to make the send-off and celebration for my brother such a warm and embracing one. You set an easy tone which certainly helped me gather myself together after walking in behind his coffin. I know we were all immensely grateful.”
“Thank you Mark my friends and neighbours who attended the service were all charmed by the content and the way you conducted it. We are most grateful and I feel my father would add....sorry I missed out!”
“Thank you so much for the memorial copy of the funeral. A friend who could not be there on the day was so impressed with my description of the service and had read the poems, now she can read the whole service and your words. As I have already said to you, we were so pleased with the service and now to be able to read it all is perfect' and I treasure the copy.”
“I just wanted email you to thank you for yesterday. It was a lovely service and you read our words with the prefect emphasis (which can't be an easy task when they're not your words). Many of the other mourners have said how beautiful the service was and we felt that we did him proud”
“We asked the funeral director to let us know the name of someone who could deliver a service and who would come across as sincere and caring. You certainly did both. We cannot thank you enough for helping us go through memories of our mother and her life and then deliver a wonderful service for us. She would have enjoyed listening to you. Everyone who came to the funeral also 'sang your praises'. Thank you again Mark for a great job, your warmth and sincerity. We will certainly recommend your professional services.”
"Thank you so very very much for your kindness, your support,your professionalism at all times. We did her proud! You make a huge difference and I hope you touch as many hearts as possible in your career, you too should be very proud of the difference you make at such a raw emotional time....."
"I just wanted to say, on behalf of my daughters and myself, a big thank you for helping with all the funeral arrangements for my husband's funeral and making it a wonderful celebration of his life. Your organisation was superb and we were confident that everything would just happen in a quiet, stress-free way, leaving us able to concentrate on ourselves and guests at that very sad time. We have reflected since that the service could not have gone better and we are grateful to you for your part in that. Your sympathetic delivery of our words and wishes was a great comfort to us."
"Thank you for everything, not just yesterday but throughout this time. You delivered my Dad an amazing service. Again thank you."
"Thanks Mark. The service was perfect and your support, professionalism and kindness very appreciated"
"We all thought your delivery of Dads funeral Service was lovely. We were so happy you were recommended to us by the Funeral director. Thank you so much for your sensitivity."
"It really was perfect thank you. Everyone commented on how perfectly you said everything and I completely agree. You have been great from start to finish so for that I really thank you.Thank you again for a beautiful service"
Yes it was certainly fit and appropriate for my wonderful wife , there were many friends and family comments reflecting the same opinion, thank you for your special contribution when saying goodbye"
"Mark was excellent. Very efficient, personable, sympathetic, easy to deal with. Couldn’t have asked for a better person to lead the funeral service."
"Mark Gilborson took the time and trouble to look at Dad’s whole life and then write accurately and beautifully about it. It was as though the ceremony was being handled by a close relative or long standing friend. I highly recommend Mark . Many others too were very impressed and moved. It was so fitting. Dad would have shaken Mark’s hand and thanked him very much, as we do." "We were particularly pleased that Mark included within his eulogy some comments from a work colleague and also included and spoke the words of several family members. Also that he accurately timed his start to a poem to coincide with the introduction music to the final piece of music."
"I can truthfully tell you that my husbands funeral, was very well done. Mark Gilborson was very efficient, and I had very good replies from the people that attended. My family and myself asked for the funeral to be serious but also funny in parts, as my husband was not a serious person he had a good sense of fun. I would give Mark a 100% for his way of handling the funeral."