Plan and conduct the Nguyen family funeral

What is going on

Mrs Nguyen Thi Lan, aged 88, will have a Buddhist funeral on Friday at 10 am in the Ringwood chapel with three monks officiating, followed by a cortege to Everlasting Memorial Park where the family have asked for twenty minutes of chanting in the committal room before the cremation, and a later placement in the niche wall. About 150 mourners are expected, many of whom will bring offerings and incense. The family will dress the deceased themselves at the mortuary with staff assistance on Thursday. The cremation permit has not yet been confirmed in the interment register and Amara Osei will not accept the booking until it is. Sam Petrakis will be your backup on the day.

Your brief

Plan the whole day from the arrangement record, coordinate every department and external party, resolve the outstanding permit, brief the team, and conduct the service and committal so that the family's religious requirements are met with dignity and the operational timeline holds.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Read the arranging procedure, the cremation and identity verification procedure and the care of the deceased policy, and list every dependency for the day, starting with the outstanding cremation permit.
• Confirm with the arranger that the second medical certificate and permit are held, record them in the interment register, and confirm the crematorium booking and the chanting time with Amara Osei.
• Build the service running sheet from the arrangement record: arrival, monks' procession, chanting, eulogies, offerings, incense safety, departure, cortege route, committal room timing and the cremator charge time.
• Book and brief the hearse, mourning cars and four bearers through Jordan Fairweather, and walk the chapel on Thursday to plan seating for 150, the altar table, incense placement and fire safety.
• Coordinate the family dressing at the mortuary on Thursday with Priyanka Sharma, including the infection control requirements for family members and the coffin plate check.
• Conduct the service on Friday: welcome the monks and family, manage the timeline with the celebrant of the family's choice, lead the cortege and hand over at the committal room with the identity check.
• After the committal, update the funeral case register to Service completed, confirm the niche wall placement request in the interment register and brief the arranger on the final account and follow-up call.
• Write a debrief for the Funeral Arranging Manager covering what went to plan, what you changed on the day and any wellbeing check needed for the team.

What someone in this role would produce

• Service running sheet with the timeline and all department briefings
• Interment register entry showing the permit recorded and the booking confirmed
• Bearer and vehicle booking with the chapel walk-through notes
• Updated funeral case register entry
• Debrief for the Funeral Arranging Manager