What shall we say...

Win a fun holiday or a ... funeral?

September 23, 2006 Edition 1 Pretoria News

Staff Reporter

When one thinks of a church fete, prizes like heavily decorated cakes, cards and other homemade goodies spring to mind - but a funeral?

That's exactly what's on offer when the Randburg Methodist Church holds its fete on October 7.

For a mere R10, one can enter the raffle and win a self-catering weekend for 10 at the Malutizicht Lodge near Ficksburg, a self-catering weekend for four to six people at Little Eden, Cullinan, or a funeral worth R8 000 courtesy of undertakers Collinge & Co.

Congregation member Margaret Lombard, who is helping to arrange the fete, told Pretoria News Weekend that Collinge & Co's offer of the prize has been welcomed with open arms.

"Anyone who has had to pay for a funeral knows it's no laughing matter," she said.

Asked if it was not a strange prize to offer patrons, she pointed out that various kinds of businesses offered what they could - and Collinge & Co was no different.

"That is what they offered, and it was accepted with thanks."

Undertaker Mike Collinge said the prize consisted of a coffin and services, including the removal of the deceased, arranging the death certificate, arranging the funeral, preparation of the deceased in the coffin, conducting of the funeral at the chosen church, transport of the coffin to the cemetery or crematorium, delivery of the ashes and death certificate.

It did not include "third party payments" - costs such as donations to the minister, organist, verger, church, catering, flowers, doctor's fees, crematorium fees, cemetery, Press notices and the like - "as we have no right to dictate to the family regarding what they should do at the funeral".