My name is Claire Phillips-Callender, I am staring down the barrel of 60.
I have earned my living for 20 years as a ceremonial undertaker at The Green Funeral Company which I co-created.
I am part of the team building The People’s Pyramid, Callender Phillips, Cauty and Drummond, Undertakers To The Underworld https://www.mumufication.com
Before that I lived and bummed around on a sailing boat in the 90’s.
Before that I worked at Mute Records in the 80’s.
Before that I was a rural punk in the 70’s, which is a lonely path.
I have raised 2 daughters to the ages of 24 and 26, I wish i could say without police intervention but that would be a lie.
I once had a solid oak floor, a Belfast sink and a husband.
As my mum got older and more infirm I often thought about and planned her funeral. We were both robbed of it by Covid.
I wrote and made this monologue about how this felt.
Lucinda Guy and I made a soundscape that was broadcast on Soundart Radio
As an undertaker I often idly write eulogies for my friends in my head, I don’t tell them because I suspect they would think it weird.