Nicholas and Anthony O’Hara were pleased to present to Chris Slocock, a cheque in support of his amazing effort to walk 1316 laps of The Minster Church here in Wimborne.

Our family, here for your family

Pre-paid funeral plans are fast becoming one of the most common ways a funeral is funded. In the past year we have seen this increase to 1 in 6 funerals compared to 2010 when it was close to 1 in 25.

There are many ways a funeral plan can be funded and for those aged under 78 the choices can include a whole of life scheme using fixed monthly payments or paying over a term, with a low cost instalment option, which finsihes in your 80th year.

We are often asked which option is best. Whilst we feel it is important to let each individual pick for themselves, we have below given the main differences between them.

Most whole of life based products mean you pay for life or until you are aged 90, compared to our funeral plan low cost instalment option which has to finish in your 80th year. Once you have been paying your whole of life premium for 2 years you are often covered then for your full amount if you die before reaching 90, but you cannot stop paying your premiums as defaulting on this invalidates your policy. With a funeral plan if you decease prior to making your last payment then the funds you have paid plus interest are paid to the funeral director and any shortfall is paid from your estate.

Also most whole of life products only pay out the agreed figure you insured for at the beginning, compared to a funeral plan which guarantees for the future the funeral director services you selected and includes an allowance for the third-party costs such as crematorium or burial fees.

For example someone aged 75 chooses our option 3 funeral plan totalling £4,350.00 and wish to pay over a term of years. The low cost instalment funeral plan allows them to pay for a maximum of 5 years compared to the whole of life insurance which will run for all of life or until aged 90.

The low cost instalment option is £79.21 per month, which at aged 80 totals £4,752.60 paid. The whole of life insurance option costs slightly less at this age of £76.49 per month but the person lives to 90 years and finishes payments, in doing so would have paid a total of £13,768.20 – almost 3 times the low cost instalment option and for 10years longer!

As we said, it is alwasy up to each individual person to choose the financial product that they feel best suits their needs, but hoped we have shown the benefits of a funeral plan versus whole of life insurance.

For more information on the funeral plans we offer please visit our pre-paid funeral planning page or contact us 01202 882134 and we can provide you with a personalised quotation based on your wishes,age and budget.

Our family here for your family

Nicholas O’Hara are pleased to welcome Jon Rust as a funeral director within the family business.

Jon joins the team having gained over 20 years experience within the funeral industry, having worked across Dorset and parts of Hampshire and Wiltshire. Jon’s main role will be as a funeral director, helping arrange and conduct funerals and supporting families in all areas of the work we do.

Jon is an AFC Bournemouth season ticket holder with his wife and also is the founder of the charity Tyler’s Friends, which he dedicates many hours to in fundraising.

The family business are thrilled to have Jon join the team and joins Anthony. Philip, CJ and Rory as the main funeral directors still supported by Nicholas who continues to install the ethic of service and standards in all the team do.

Our family here for your family

A funeral plan is a safe, simple way to plan ahead and help secure peace of mind, for you and your family. And whatever your reason for planning ahead, with the personal care and attention of Nicholas O’Hara Funeral Directors, you’re in the best of hands – that’s a promise.

1. You’ll fix your funeral director’s costs at today’s prices

And that’s important. You might be surprised to hear that the average cost of a funeral has gone up by 55% in less than 10 years. It means there’s no guarantee that, when the time comes, your savings or over 50s insurance policy will cover the cost of your funeral.

2. Help protect your family from worry and expense

A plan isn’t just an easy way to beat rising prices. It’s also a chance to do somethingamazing for your family at a difficult time. With a plan in place you can help save your family from money worries or stressful decisions about funeral arrangements in the future. That could mean a lot to them – and be a real comfort to you now, too.

3. Arrange your funeral, your way

One of the best things about a Golden Charter plan is that you can choose the send off you want. When the time comes, everything will be taken care of by us. It means you and your family can be certain of a truly personal service when it matters most.

4. You’re in the hands of a trusted local expert

When you’re thinking about something as important as your funeral, it makes sense to talk to the experts. As a trusted local funeral director, we’ll take care of every aspect of your plan in a personal way, taking the time to understand your needs and find the plan that suits you exactly

5. The security of a leading plan provider

The plans we offer are provided by Golden Charter – one of the UK’s largest funeral plan providers. Over 700,000 people have already trusted them with their funeral arrangements. It means your plan offers the best of both worlds – the personal service and care of a trusted local funeral director, and the reassurance of a leading plan provider.

For more information please contact us on 01202 882134 or visit our Pre-Paid Funeral Planning page on our website

Our family here for your family

As we prepare to enter the second lockdown of 2020, on Thursday 5^th November, we would like to reassure all the families we care for, now and during this period, as to what is allowed for funerals at this time. We will continue to update this as information is supplied to us.

• Registering a death – is still done by telephone with the Registrar’s office – we will advise the information you will need to know and where and when you need to speak to them
• Arranging the funeral – we will still meet you to discuss the funeral arrangements but this will only be at one of our funeral homes and with a maximum of two family members able to attend. We can also support you via the telephone, email and skype etc
• Visiting the Chapel – our chapel of rests at each of our funeral homes remain open and an appointment needs to be made prior so we can limit the number of people in any building at one time. There is no time limit on how long you may spend in the chapel but it is restricted to two family members per visit
• Attending the funeral – the government guideline is 30 mourners maximum, but each venue will have their own rule based on the space allowed and how social distancing can be maintained. Currently both the crematoriums at Poole and Bournemouth (East Chapel) allow 20 mourners (10 in Bournemouth West Chapel). If the service is to be held at the Cemetery then the maximum of 30 will be allowed.
• If I can’t attend the service – if you are unable to attend and the family have chosen to have the service webcast, we can provide you with the information so you can login to watch the service from home
• Limousine transport – We are still able to provide limousines. They are fitted with hygiene screens to separate driver and passengers of which we allow a maximum of 5. Face masks have to be worn inside the vehicle and we will provide hand sanitiser also. Between each use the vehicles are sanitised
• When do I need to wear a face mask – these need to be worn when visiting one of our funeral homes, travelling in limousines and inside the crematorium building
• What restrictions are there during the service – the only notable difference other than numbers allowed to attend is that no singing can take place. Recorded music can still be listened too. People are allowed to speak during the service and may remove their mask to do so when stood at the lectern

At all times we will make sure the safety of the families we are caring for and our staff is priority. All of our funeral homes have hand sanitising stations at each door and masks will be worn by all staff when in your presence. If you have any concerns or questions on the current restrictions and procedures then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Our family here for your family

Often we are asked by families if a loved on has purchased a funeral plan through ourselves. We can check our records and also the database of Golden Charter, our funeral planning company of choice, and if we can’t find one, what next?

Now through the Funeral Planning Authority (FPA) we are able to use a trace system where information is sent to all registered funeral plan providers who can check their database and if they find a funeral plan they will contact the relevant person.

We do however find that it is often the case that people talk about funeral planning with the intention of doing this or time passes and it is forgotten. There are so many benefits of funeral planning and for more information please visit https://www.oharafunerals.co.uk/funerals/pre-paid-funeral-plans/ or contact us as you wish.

If you wish to try and trace if a loved one has a funeral plan, please click on the link https://funeralplanningauthority.co.uk/trace-a-plan/ and complete the online form.

Our family here for your family

CORONA-VIRUS UPDATE

25^TH March 2020

 Following the latest guidelines from Government, Public Health England, BCP and Dorset Councils and recommendations from our trade associations we would like to update our own and the present situation regarding funeral services.

If a person dies from COVID-19 what happens? Our staff have been trained and equipped to handle this situation. We have all the required PPE clothing required to make our staff safe but also carry out our duties with the highest levels of dignity and care we would treat all with. We would kindly ask that we are informed from the beginning of this and also if anyone else within the family is suffering with any of the symptoms even if not fully diagnosed. Our only present restriction is that we are unable to carry out our usual hygienic treatment to someone who has the virus which then restricts the opportunity for visits to our chapel of rest. All other elements of a funeral will be the same.

 Funerals: There is allowed a maximum of 10 family members at each cremation service and we would request the same for burials also, and these must be from the following:

Spouse / Partner

Parent / Carer

Brother / Sister

Children (and partners)

Grandchildren (if still within the allowance of 10 people maximum)

At the start of each service the funeral director and team will bear the coffin into the chapel and will then leave prior to the funeral director inviting the family members to enter the chapel for the service.

It is recommended that the coffin is not touched by any person before they exit the chapel.

Any flowers placed on the coffin will be brought from the chapel by the funeral director once everyone has left the chapel.

All services in the chapel at Bournemouth and Poole Crematoriums can be viewed by webcasting (watch at home on a computer) and this service is currently free of charge. At the time of arranging the funeral we will offer this service, and on request a link with a login and password will be sent to you, which you can share with family and friends unable to attend. They will also be able to use this link to watch the service up to 28 days later.

The crematoriums are at this time unable to offer the chance for families to witness the scattering of ashes within the crematorium grounds. The ashes can be held there or we can hold them for you until you are able.

Office Hours: We have taken the difficult, but sensible step, to close our Verwood and West Moors offices to protect staff and to provide a team of back up staff so we are able to stay fully functional.

Our head office in Wimborne is open Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm, and we request people only attend by appointment only and that a maximum of two people per family attend any appointment.

Funeral Arranging: We will of course fully support you in arranging all aspects of the funeral. We are unable to make home visits unless absolutely necessary. Appointments can be made and for convenience a funeral director will meet you in any of our funeral homes if you are unable to travel to Wimborne. We can make the arrangements via phone, skype and email and can scan and email all required forms that need completing.

Chapel Visits: These are also by appointment only and again restricted to two people attending at any one time. Any further guidance required will be given at that time.

Limousines: It has been recommended at this time due to protecting our staff and social distancing that limousines are not used for services and we are complying with this. For any funeral taking place where a limousine has been included as part of a funeral plan purchase we will organise a refund of the cost of the limousine to you.

Order of Service Printing: Even though there is a restriction on numbers able to attend services we can still arrange printing for the service and it is recommended that if you wish, the amount printed would cover those you would have expected to attend. We will then provide the order of service to you along with envelopes so you may post them to those unable to attend so they can follow the service with you especially if it is being webcast. Orders of service are also mementos from the day that people like to keep.

Music at Crematorium: The music engine options for both Poole and Bournemouth Crematorium are both fully functional to provide the music you require for the service. Its only limitation is that it can only provide music already in its system but this is a vast list and once you have chosen your music we will let you know as soon as possible if any music is unavailable.

Future Memorial Services: For many, with the present restrictions, the funeral may not have all the same feeling that you may have wanted to create with all family and friends being able to part of a loved one’s final goodbye. We will of course help arrange and support future memorial services once the present situation has changed and restrictions lifted.

Services in Church: With the present guidance from The Catholic Church and Church of England there are to be no funeral services in church. If you wish, a minister from your parish or attending Church may officiate at the crematorium or cemetery. Again it may be worth considering a memorial service for the future.

Registering a Death: At present the usual process for death registration applies. This will be updated as soon as changes are confirmed.

Help with the cost of the funeral from DWP: We have been informed, for all who are eligible to make a claim for help towards funeral costs from the DWP, that they should do this in the usual way. We can offer more advice or please visit https://www.gov.uk/funeral-payments

Pre-Paid Funeral Plans: We are still able to discuss and arrange funeral plans for those who wish to do this. We suggest you firstly request from us our funeral plan pack and once ready either call us or email anthony@oharafunerals.co.uk with any questions you may have or to discuss your wishes. We are able to complete the application process by telephone or email and will advise what happens next and payment options.

Bereavement Support: Due to the current restrictions on face to face meetings our chosen grief support team SAIFCare are providing online messaging service. This can be found via https://www.griefchat.co.uk/

As soon as any further guidelines or changes are introduced we will update this information 

Our family, here for your family

March 2020 has been a difficult month for many around the world, but we are thankful to all families who take the time to leave us an independent review following a funeral of a loved one. This month we have passed through 400 5* reviews and we  would like to say thank you for all your kind words, support and thanks.

The reviews are an important way that feedback is received to our family business not just for the kind words of thanks and encouragement but also the chance to gain thoughts on any part of the whole funeral service that they can improve on as the aim is always to provide a unique and personal service, to meet expectations and leave positive memories from a loved ones service, at what is always the families most difficult of times.

The reviews are collected independently by Funeral Guide who also provide the online donation facility to the company’s website. Being independent, each review is done by each family, of their own choice by replying to Funeral Guide and then they post onto the reviews section of the website. If any one would like more information or the chance to post a review on behalf of their family then please contact us.

Our family, here for your family