Sunday 23rd September 10.30 am was the Farewell Service for the Reverend Carole Peters-King at St Mary Magdalen Church, Helmdon before Carole moves on to pastures new at Salisbury Cathedral. Martin and Matthew Humphris were privileged to attend the service to join the packed congregation with representatives from all of the six churches that make up the Astwell Benefice.

It was clearly a very emotional time for Carole and many of those in the church. During the five years that Carole has been in the benefice, she has achieved much, what was repeated may times was the way Carole had developed very close links between each of the six churches. They are now working much closer together and continue to do so for the benefit of the whole of the benefice. Such has been the success that this model is being used by more and more rural benefices.

The main entrance to our Albert Street office is open again and we would like to thank you for bearing with us whilst the work has been in progress on our reception and front office.

We just have a few additions/adjustments to make and phase one will be complete. Here are a few before and after photos.

Banbury United are hosting a big FA Cup 2nd qualifying round game next Saturday, 22nd, at home to Bath City from the Conference South and as proud sponsors we’d like to wish them luck! Why not pop along to cheer them on.

We are currently redecorating our reception areas so the main entrance is inaccessible, possibly until the middle of September.

Please use the side door which is on the left just through the gated driveway. We are open as usual from 8:30am to 5:30pm and apologise for any inconvenience caused. Thank you for bearing with us.

If anyone with a stall at an event would like some extra protection from the sun please do get in touch about borrowing our gazebo.

It is 3m square and can easily be erected by two people.

Recently Lucy Humphris of Humphris Funerals, Banbury’s longest standing family run business and independent Funeral Director, was presented with her Diploma in Funeral Arranging and Administration at a graduation ceremony at Birmingham City University. Lucy had been working hard to achieve this qualification since December 2015, when she completed a previous course in bereavement counselling, so was delighted that it had all paid off when she achieved a merit.

Lucy joins a long line of accredited funeral directors within the family as Lucy’s father Martin and his father Maurice Humphris were also honoured, at the event, with being re-presented with their diplomas in funeral directing, an award Maurice first received in May 1959 as part of the first group of funeral directors in the country to be assessed in this way.

Maurice’s brother John was also one of the first accredited embalmers in the country, a tradition into which his son Christopher would later follow him. Humphris Funerals are now privileged to be able to call on three qualified embalmers within the firm.

Lucy joins her cousin Matthew as the fifth generation of funeral directors within the family. Matthew having completed the diploma in funeral arranging and administration in 2013 and then being among the first in the country to be awarded a revised and more in-depth diploma in funeral directing. Humphris Funerals has always been a very family oriented firm committed to the highest standards of training and professionalism

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Karen and Stuart at Humphris Funerals have put together our new lovely flower baskets and also a quiet area for you to sit and remember your loved one.

On Wednesday 31^st May it was Danny Jordan’s last day working with us. Danny has been a very loyal and committed member of staff of Humphris Funerals for almost 58 years. The loyalty Danny has shown to us has seen 4 generations working at Albert Street. The great kindness and generosity he has shown to so many families, nothing has ever been too much trouble.

We will all miss Danny here at Humphris but are sure he will be popping in to say hello.

We are happy to announce that we raised £65 at our Care for a Cuppa on Friday 12th May 2017 to support the great work at Katharine House Hospice. Thank you to everyone who came and all their support.