Peter Best | Funeral Celebrant

My name is Peter Best and I am your Funeral Celebrant in Devon.

Rosemary for remembrance, Lemon Balm to soothe, putting you at ease in the most natural way.  Together we will paint a portrait of celebration for your beloved deceased.  Their story and character will be at the heart of the ceremony.

Living close to the border between Devon and Somerset, on the M5 corridor, the greenest of neighbourhoods offers lots of friendly places to live and to work.  The region called to me in the mid-1980s and I moved to East Devon from Middlesex.

My working life started in the mid-seventies, the day after I took my final exam at school.  Since then I have worked in several sectors from print to care and logistics to teaching, finally finishing my days as an employee in Funeralcare.

It has been my privilege to support families as they travel the emotional path of saying farewell to their beloved deceased. Whether it was collecting their loved one, from their family home, or being part of the ceremonial team, on the day of the funeral, I was described as a ‘safe pair of hands’.

Outside of work I have served my community in various roles either as a senior and junior football coach (FA Qualified), Parish Councillor, chair ship on more than one committee and ardent quiz team member.

Family and community are important to me.  My wife Nicky (Nichola with an ‘H’) and I have been a part of, and contributed to, village life since we moved to Mid-Devon in 1994.  We cannot imagine living anywhere else and consider ourselves good neighbours.

We’re the kind of neighbours you hear talking to the plants, their cat, the fish in the pond and all visiting wildlife to our garden.  We find sanctuary and comfort in green spaces whether digging our allotment, walking by rivers and streams or visiting the many wildlife reserves local to us.

Although home birds, Nichola and I do like to travel.  Nichola was widely travelled before we met, being the daughter of a Rock Ape (Father stationed at RAF Butterworth in Malaysia in the early 1960s) and she forced me into my first foreign trip.

Sorrento was first, which included taking in Pompeii and Vesuvius in the late 1990s.  We returned there (you’re meant to, it says so in the song) in 2017 with our then teenage daughter.

Since then, my horizons have been broadened by enriching experiences in The Gambia, Turkey, The Balearics, Portugal, Finland and the WWI Battlefields of Flanders.  However, crossing the pond has never appealed.

Being born in the early 1960s, the school day always started with a whole school assembly including hymns, a bible reading or lesson and The Lord’s Prayer. Although never a committed church goer, I can still find comfort in hymns and prayers.

My daughter, Eleanor, is jealous of me because I was lucky enough to have grown up with revolutionary music, television and films. The Beatles, David Bowie, Bob Marley and Alice Cooper were all part of my youthful soundtrack.  Later came Punk and New Wave all competing with Disco and Soul.

The theme tune to Thunderbirds is the best TV theme ever, closely followed by The Persuaders (a paring of Roger Moore and Tony Curtis).  Sunday evenings, as a teenager, were spent tape recording the UK Top Ten from the radio and pausing all the chat in between the records being played.

As a family we share similar tastes in music, and Nicky introduced me to musical theatre when we first met.  Eleanor and I can be a bit nerdy about film, and we’ve been known to binge watch Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings for daddy and daughter time.

The natural world and music are two of my most favourite things.  A murmuration of starlings has moved me to tears as has the sound of a Welsh rugby crowd singing ‘Land of My Fathers’.

Reflection comes naturally to me as does empathy.  I may not walk in your shoes, but I will be able to see, and feel, what your journey means to you and then put it into words.

My person-centred funeral ceremony will resonate with your family and friends. Their life story, readings and music all combining to provide comfort and closure at the saddest of times.