A fitting tribute to Sir Donald Sinden

Experiences of a coffineer - Part 11

A fitting tribute to Sir Donald Sinden OBE

Last week the world lost one it's finest actors of screen and stage. Sir Donald Sinden died at home at the age of 90 following a prolonged battle with cancer.

The national press has given praise for his extensive work and his contribution to british acting. They have fully covered his career and extolled his acting successes over the past 7 decades. 

Sir Donald will be remembered for his various stage appearances from comedy (There's a girl in my soup, 1966 - 1973) to various Shakespearean characters, in numerous film productions and more recently playing alongside Martin Shaw in BBC's Judge John Deed.

Today, Sir Donald's funeral service was held at a small village church miles from the busy west end where he was a regular visitor. Friends and family gathered at St John the Baptist in Wittersham, near Tenterden in Kent to say farewell to the great man.

The Sindens are neighbours of ours and Sir Donald was a very popular and highly respected member of our community. Locally he will be remembered for his happy manner and friendly smiles in the High Street of Tenterden and surrounding villages. Quite often I would hear his distinctive voice booming across the aisles of our local Waitrose as he chatted with staff and other customers alike. 

Sir Donald was also a supporter of local arts - he was patron of the Barn Theatre Company based at the Ellen Terry Barn Theatre at Smallhythe Place and supporter of Homewood School drama department who named their theatre after him.

He also supported the local community in many other ways. I remember well, one year, running into Donald at Stone village fair where he was master of ceremonies and resident judge and prize awarder - in his best shakespearean theatrical voice presiding over best victoria sponge and largest marrow. A delight to the ears!

As such, we were delighted to be asked by his son, actor and director, Marc Sinden if we could provide a hand painted Curve Coffin for Sir Donald in the distinctive "Salmon and Cucumber" colours of the Garrick Club in London which Sir Donald frequented.

The Curve Coffin in Garrick Club colours

The Garrick Club flag flies at half mast

We are delighted that the story was covered by local press:

Dame Judi Dench joins mourners at Wittersham church at funeral service for actor Sir Donald Sinden

For more information about the Curve Coffin please visit www.wealdencoffins.co.uk

Experiences of a coffineer - Part 7

The art of death

Isn't it a shame that in this day and age of creativity and innovation there seems to be little progress in the design of coffins?


In fact you could say that coffin design (or manufacture at least) has taken a step backwards in the UK where the majority of sales today are of chipboard coffins with wood-effect plastic veneer or sticky back plastic in Blue Peter parlance.

Of course there are exceptions and I must say that I do like many of the woven willow coffins as well as the natural wool coffin from Hainsworth, both of which provide softer, more aesthetic options - but it's such a shame that many families are "led" down the chipboard coffin route simply for monetary reasons.

When we first designed The Curve coffin we knew we had something special -  after all there aren't any other wooden coffins with a curved profile on the market - but with an artistic hand painted, creative finish we think that we've moved coffin design into a whole new era.

Our goal is to produce beautiful works of art for each and every coffin that we make.

At the moment we have a hand-painted Curve coffin on display at the Wealden Makers' Gallery in Tenterden, Kent

The coffin is a full sized adult coffin with a beautiful artistic design created by my talented partner, Holly. It has a rubbed-back, rustic feel duck egg base coat with a stunning, stylised single dove on the top as the main image and a beautiful twisted vine border running long the edge.

I'm pleased to say that we've had great feedback from visitors to the gallery with many positive comments.

Also at the gallery is a variety of art from Tenterden Makers artists and regular exhibiting guests including photography, ceramics, felting, paintings and mosaics. For more information about the artists please see www.tenterdenmakers.com

For more information about our beautiful coffins please go to www.wealdencoffins.co.uk

Experiences of a Coffineer - Part 6

Talking with the dead


Imagine the scene: a cold dark draughty room with only a few flickering candles for light. A group of strange people gathered uncomfortably around the table. The sound of eerie music playing in the background.

Now, before we all get carried away, I'm not really referring to Ouija board seance mumbo jumbo here.

As I think I may have mentioned before, one of the most amazing and emotional parts of this job is speaking with your prospective customers as they make plans for their own deaths or for the funerals of their loved ones.

Since we first opened Wealden Coffins with the launch of the Curve Coffin last spring I've had many such conversations and I can tell you there is nothing quite so humbling as a deep and meaningful conversation with someone who is planning their own death.

Whilst most funerals are arranged in haste by family members with the local funeral directors, often with no real knowledge of what the deceased really wanted for their final celebration, there is definitely a growing number of people who want to research the options before they die and make some if not all of the final arrangement for their own funerals. 

And from the conversations I've had it seems that the last thing most of these people want is an impersonal, bog standard funeral with an often mundane and  uninspiring traditional coffin.

I recently had a chat with a lovely lady who had discovered us through the the coffin listings on the Good Funeral Guide where our good friend Charles Cowling kindly promotes us.

We talked about the weather, the snow and the rain (ok so it wasn't that recent) how the farmers were struggling and of course our coffins. She mentioned how lovely it was to see a coffin that looked so unusually unlike a coffin and how beautiful they looked!

Michelle had seen our beautiful Curve Coffin hand painted by Holly with our tree of life design but wanted to know if it was available with apples instead of hearts for the fruits. I explained that all of our coffins are hand made to order and then painted to order so anything was possible! 

We spoke about colours and finishes, apples (my favourites are Braeburn, Michelle's were Galas) and how many handles were on the coffins, that they are made from natural hemp rope and totally structural. 

At the time I wasn't sure if it was a request for herself or for another family member. I followed up with an email  confirming our conversation and left it at that.

It wasn't until several weeks later that I was reminded of the call when I was approached by the funeral directors acting for the family. Michelle had passed away and had left detailed instructions about the actual coffin she wanted for her own funeral, specifying the design, the colour and the finish in her final wishes. 

It's conversations like these that make me realise that what we are doing is something special.

We've had several people tell us that our coffins are beautiful and it's great to know that we aren't just making coffins, we make things of beauty.