The page where I tell you a little bit about me
Hi there, I’m Sanderson.
My mission is to help you bring love, life, meaning and joy to the most important days of your life.
Whether we are gathering for the happiest, or saddest, of reasons, I want to help you create the perfect ceremony for the occasion.
How I became a celebrant.
My journey to being a celebrant, began when I was 10, the year my mother died.
Losing my mother at such a young age made me grapple with life and death, at a fundamental level, as I attempted to make sense of the senseless.
Somewhere over my teens my relationship with death changed. It took a long time, but I found a way to be grateful for every moment I had with my mother, instead of feeling bitter at the briefness of our time together.
The inevitability of death made me infinitely grateful for the short time we have on earth.
I Have Died Many Times (On Stage).
Appreciating the briefness of life gave me the motivation I needed to set out on a journey to be a stand up comedian.
My first stand up show was called ‘Another Heartbreaking But Ultimately Life-Affirming Show About Death’. The title was better than the show.
In my favourite Edinburgh show I researched the audience during the day, in order to make a sketches and jokes that were unique to that evening.
My shows tended to find novel ways to engage with big topics. I particularly loved creating one-of-kind moments that connected to the joy of life.
But at the back of my mind another idea was lurking…
Starting a secular church.
One year, on leaving a Christmas carol service I thought “Could you have a church which celebrated Life, the one thing we all have in common?”
Turns out another comic, Pippa Evans, had a similar question. Together we began planning an experimental Sunday gathering that had songs, readings, meditation and plenty of community spirit.
This led to Sunday Assembly, a worldwide movement of non-religious congregations. From 2013 I was hosting services with songs, readings, speakers, in order to bring to life big themes.
It turns out that you need more than just performance skills to create community. So I got a qualification in coaching from Cambridge University, and training in mindfulness and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
An Accidental Celebrant
Soon people began to ask me to be a celebrant for weddings and funerals. It was never work I sought, but a lovely activity to do alongside performing and running the charity.
Oddly, I felt more authentic leading funerals, due to my own early bereavement. Whenever I spoke about marriage, while being unmarried, I felt like I was blagging it.
Luckily, in 2015, events were put in motion that would change that…
Meeting The One
When you know, you know.
That’s not true for everyone but, by golly, it was what I experienced when I met Imogen Moore.
In no time at all I was canvassing friends with the question: ‘When is it too soon to propose?’
Temptation almost got the better of me at the 3 month and the 6 month mark. In the end I popped the question on the night of our first anniversary.
We were married in Scotland, and soon had two small boys to our name.
So about the ‘Until death do us part” part.
In March 2023 Imogen was diagnosed with brain cancer. A very rare complication meant she died far earlier than expected at the end of May.
What can I say? It is as awful as you can imagine, and then a good deal more awful than that.
Yes, life is incredible. Yes, we are fortunate to be alive. No, that philosophical position does not give you an immunity to grief.
The Intentional Celebrant
Major life events, often lead to major life changes.
In 2022 I’d joined a large consultancy helping to design and facilitate gatherings so that very senior people could solve complex problems.
After arranging Imogen’s funeral and memorial service, the thought of helping people at such a key time in their lives, called to me.
In the summer of 2024 I left my comfortable job to start on this new journey.
‘I have a very particular set of skills, acquired over a long career’
Thus spake Liam Neeson to his daughter’s kidnappers in the film Taken.
I too bring you a very particular set of skills acquired over a long career. Skills that make me uniquely capable of giving you the funeral that your loved one deserves.
I’ve walked the walk: this is particular important in funerals. I have stood where you are standing. I have felt your pain. Finding life in death is etched into who I am.
Celebrations of Life that Feel like a Celebration: it’s obvious weddings have to be fun, but you can’t spell funeral without the word. I pride myself in making celebrations of life, that feel like a celebration of a life.
Joyful, Secular Inclusive Service Expert: there are very few people in the Britain who have designed and led as many secular church services as I have.
Listening and Designing: my coaching skills, along with therapeutic training, enables me to listen and understand what you need.
I’m as comfortable bringing bringing pizzaz and energy to a ‘traditional’ funeral in a crematorium, as I am designing a festival celebration of life in field in Hampshire.
Equally, if you’re getting married, and want to make the ceremony itself POP, then I’m your man.
Thanks so much for reading this far. I look forward to hearing from you.
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