I worked in theatre for a number of years and then I started having babies. I was drawn to the important and compelling presence I’d found so helpful throughout pregnancy and birth, so I trained to be a midwife. I worked clinically in hospital and community settings, and then started to teach midwifery at the University of the West of England in Bristol, and  subsequently at Oxford Brookes. I was a midwife and midwife teacher for thirty years, had two more babies, and now work as an independent funeral celebrant. Being a midwife entails holding a space for people to do difficult things, and I think this echoes too in my role as a celebrant. I have always been intrigued by the parallels between birth and death. In my ongoing work as a celebrant I continue to reflect on these: both of these transitions - the bookends of life – sit at the crossroads of our biological and social selves. They each evoke big emotions and often significant social rituals, incurring changes on physiological, emotional, spiritual and cultural levels.
I accompanied my three small grandchildren into the world and enjoy spending time with them, re-encountering the glorious illogicality of childhood! I think I have more patience but less energy than when my own children were little. I also swim, bake and spend time travelling and camping in my micro campervan.


www.kirstencelebrant.com