Happy New Year!
Hi Lovely friends and family (and followers just checking in!). Welcome to my 2025 Round Up – The Good, The Bad and The Challenging…
This is take 2…
I started writing this last week and it turned into a depressing diatribe breaking down my fall from golden girl to persona-non-grata with a certain trade association to whom I was due to be president!!! Spoiler alert, didn’t happen and I left to join a new and much more inclusive, supportive and modern association whom I truly believe will change the face of independent celebrancy (funnily, formed by 3 other people who are also persona-non-grata with the first!!!) … OK, so it’s still turned into a rant but at least it is only a paragraph rather than a full page on this attempt … I guess better out than in… moving on.
Usually I am more organised and very positive, scribing a ‘round robin’ style letter for a blog post in time for Christmas, listing all the amazing happenings of the year and extolling the virtues of positivity and community! I couldn’t quite get my schizzel together this time. I kept focusing on the drama/trauma and genuinely forgot all the amazeballs stuff. That’s when I became grateful to Tiktok , they created a 2025-year review post and it reminded me what an absolute blast of a year its been too (despite the background noise). Actually, out of the dirt grew some pretty strong saplings too, providing a reminder that sometimes we need the ‘manure’ too.
The highlights
Let’s take a look at the highlights eh
Having enjoyed the beginning of the year with the wonderful chaos of grandkids in the house, with them ‘sneaking ‘ into our bed each morning, John then accompanied them home to Saudi and spent a full month with them having a number of magnificent desert adventures! Me, home alone, did the same but with more jumpers and usually in my Oodie!!! He returned home in time for Valentines Day.
I guested on a number of podcasts and radio spots this year ( 2 episodes of Good Goodbyes (episode 25 and 71), 2 of the Still Kicking Older and Wiser Podcast (episode 4), 2 fantastic episodes of The Legacy Lounge, A live interview in the BBC Wales studio with Behnaz Akhgar and a wonderful conversation with Babs Michel for Three Counties Radio). In addition, Dinah and I produced a number of episodes for our co-hosted podcast, Ask A Celebrant.
I was also approached by a Welsh production company Fforest Films who shadowed me over the space of 3 days for a film short or community driven documentary, we filmed loads, about Llanwrtyd community, being a doula and celebrant, Fireside Reflection, authenticity and supporting the LGBTQI+ community…I hope they do something with it, if nothing else provide some cuts and stills for me to use, but hopefully, they’ll create something superb.
The Biggest Moment
The biggest moment this year was the publication of my guide book to all things end-of-life, dying, death, funerals and legacy planning, called My Life, My Death, My Wishes. Self-published because I’m too damned impatient, it’s a guide that feels like a conversation with me, hand holding the reader through processes, empowering them and improving choice and gifting time and permission. I’m super proud of it, particularly because several well known poets allowed me to include their work, Pam Ayres, Donna Ashworth and Sean Hughes.
When the first box arrived, John came in with it in character as Biff from Back to the Future! His fave film of all time. It was very funny but maybe you had to be there!
Another big moment was meeting Donna Ashworth in person at the Hay Festival and exchanging books ! I was also lucky enough to do the same with the inspirational Kathryn Mannix when I attended her talk at Bristol University in May.
The book is available directly from me or via (whispers), amazon, or available in independent bookstores Little Book of Dragons (Llandovery) and Bloomorium (Builth Wells). This year I gave £1 for ever copy sold directly to S.O.B.S (Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide). Next Year the same will happen for the charity Men’s Shed… That’s enough plugging my book – follow the link to buy a copy 😉
The First of An Annual Event?
In July, alongside the filming with Fforest Films, we hosted our first Trans Pride picnic, a response to the backlash from the fear and hate rhetoric generated through the Supreme Court ruling as a result of the once celebrated JKR. I had trans friends in despair, agoraphobic, suicidal, frighted. Other members of the LGBTQIA+ feeling less safe too and allies trying their best to be supportive in the modern world where media and press distort and disproportionately incite terror narrative. The picnic was a wonderful, understated gathering, sound bathing, live music, mosaic art project, , gratitude ceremony and a collective picnic, in our garden here at Cerdyn Villa, now set up for micro celebration events.
Some challenges
And as the distorted and hateful world rhetoric, the genocide of the Palestinian peoples continues to rage; the hateful rise of fascism sucking the credibility out of America under the lead of a malignant narcissist and Farage continuing to be overly represented in the UK media, I found the world of the compassionate majority rising to take a stand. All the hate, all the arrests, all the attempts to impinge on domestic freedoms , speech and safety. All the ‘manure ‘ I spoke about.
Alongside I saw the majority of humanity rise up, stand tall, and shout more loudly. I was arrested in Parliament Square on the 6th of September, bailed and subsequently ‘released under investigation’ for sitting peacefully alongside clerics, veterans, retired solicitors, Quakers, and concerned citizens… proudly one of now over 3000 domestic terrorist suspects simply calling out for the end of apartheid and genocide and the rise of fascism and Zionism across the world.
I Am My Brand
Most people will say I should not mention this, my political views will impact my work. I say, I am my brand. My brand is value driven. I will always speak for the disenfranchised, marginalised and persecuted. I will always be authentically me. And that day was the first day in a long time where I actually wasn’t questioning my sanity and reality… the Orwellian narrative was not pulling the wool over the eyes of the vast majority of the population despite our political leaders and media trying to have us fighting each other instead of them!.
During that 36 hours I saw the greatest of hope and humanity. It has had its challenges, but I stand with Francesca Albanese and her words “ We need to be prepared to give up just an inch of our own privilege so that an entire people don’t have to lose everything “. and I am lucky enough to be able to live that because of a wonderfully supportive partner John and my community.
More Highlights
The Llanwrtyd community continues to delight and amaze me, with its calendar of great events and the opportunity to commentate them – the new Bog Fest music event alongside the infamous World Bog Snorkelling and Alternative Games was definitely a highlight and sure to be massive in 2026 ( so if you are free August Bank Holiday weekend, book some accommodation and join us). Mostly I thank my attitude of ‘do what feels right’ that led me to live here – the support this community offers to anyone who might become frail or find themselves grieving makes the whole place feel like a large caring loving family. No-one is ever alone unless they choose to be, and everyone is looked out for.
The other ‘biggy’ for the year was working with Dani Wallace as part of her support crew, setting up and marshalling her Big Festoon event at Bolton Stadium, the last one there before it moves to a much bigger venue in 2026. Dani is inspirational. She lives her brand values which are basically “We all do well, when we all do well”, kindness, diversity and inclusivity are at her very core and it was a privilege to be part of such a dynamic and inspiring event, meeting some incredible humans and forging wonderful connections.
The sad
As ever (especially because of my line of work), I/we had to say goodbye to too many people, some well before their time. There were a marked number of losses of great local characters, least of all the infamous Gordon Green to whom our little town owes its quirky reputation. We lost our beautiful rescue cat Emmett too earlier this year. We continue to remember and reflect on all those we have loved, admired, and lost this year and their families in their grief They all live on leaving ripples forever in the sea of my life and I light a candle at our regular Fireside Reflections and think of them all.
More Joy
Just before our 31st anniversary hubby presented me with a surprise gift he’d been mulling, sourcing and then finally creating over the last 4 months. A gift he had intended for our 30th. A reworking and recording of a CD. If you know the old song, Love Grows (love grows where my Rosemary goes). Only with the words, “Love Grows Where My BerniB Goes…” – I had no idea and my flabber was gasted! What an old romantic eh!
The year ended on a high, at home with all our boys, partners and the grandkids having a late Christmas on 29th Dec Honestly those baba’s are a delight. Now aged 8 & 5 and just adorable, loving and so very, very funny!
So that’s it, continuing to share my truth and continuing to support others to do the same by sharing their stories and creating their unique celebrations and commemorations. Next year is going to be full on,. I (think) I’m ready to face it head on. Bring in on!
