About us

Gentle, Unhurried and Inclusive

With Heart & Soul Funerals you are choosing a value led family owned and run company. Not born and bred into the funeral sector, we (Jane Morrell and Simon Smith) came gradually into this work with a passion fired by our own experiences of close deaths.

Fifteen years on, with the addition of colleagues Birte and Paul, we are now award-winning and highly qualified funeral directors (NAFD Funeral Directors Diploma; Bath University Degree In Funeral Services and Diplomas in Therapeutic Counselling, Accredited Member of the Society of Bereavement Practitioners) and we put everything we’ve got into ensuring that you have a funeral with heart and soul, one that expresses love and meaning through beauty, whatever your beliefs.

You Will Meet – Birte and Paul

Birte

Life is to be explored and goes on around us while death, which has such deep impact on us, is the road less travelled.

Setting out to explore those roads led me to join courses led by Jane and Simon in the early days of Green Fuse, on to Cruse, and then working in the Midlands for a long time, having been trusted to walk alongside those unknown roads for a brief time.

Paul

Growing up in the Eastern Mediterranean, life and death were more intertwined. Cemeteries were full of tombstones with photos of the people buried there, and widows wore black all the rest of their lives.

Decades later, taking a school trip to Romania, the first thing we witnessed was a Roma funeral procession going past a church, with an open coffin drawn by horses. The priest spoke with us and brought out the sacred thighbone of St. Pantelimon, encased in silver work with a small opening so we could sniff the sweetness of sanctity.

Twenty-five years working with children and young people preparing for life was incredibly fulfilling. Joining Birte, Jane and Simon at Heart & Soul has brought me back to a deeper connection with origins, both personal and universal.

Our Founders

Jane and Simon

Jane

I opened the Green Fuse flower shop in Station Road Totnes in 1999. My aim was to provide flowers and ceremonies to mark life's big moments. I put some coffins amongst the flowers and what people came to me for most was to help them organise funerals. We also ran 'death and dying' groups in the shop which were well attended. One group decided they wanted to attend monthly and did so for a year. I found that working with the bereaved at the time of a death became my passion and has remained so for over 20 years now.

Simon

I came into this work when Jane Morrell set up Green Fuse in 1999 and have been full time since 2005. I feel that working with the bereaved and the dying is the most fulfilling and inspiring work I can do and I really want to make a difference, to help make the experience of the death, the funeral and grief in some way life affirming. Yes I accompany people at a low ebb in their lives, but also at a time when they find the courage and the spirit to make meaning from what is happening to them.

Simon and the team where amazing for my mums funeral. Having taken into consideration all parts of the family they provided an amazing service from start to finish. Always a tough time when you are organising a funeral, but Simon was so professional throughout the process. Give him a call. You wont be disappointed.
Paul and Birte headed up the memorial service for my twin Adam Sykes in late November 2021. They are absolutely lovely; genuine, kind, experienced. The venue is super, with plenty of parking, the space great and their flexibility in offering any kind of celebration we wanted was so appreciated. We listened after the service to recordings of the band Ad was in, The Subs, there was great food from Sima in Totnes and the celebrant, Sandy Akerman, was fantastic too. All in all a good send off for Adam. I've been to other services at their venue and I would recommend them to anyone. Truly heartwarming. PS I was free to sit with Adam for as long as I wanted on a morning before the service, he was looked after beautifully on site by them, and this also helped me a lot.
I was so touched by Simon at Heart and Soul, his time and care in getting to know our wishes, and what Franck would have liked. The natural burial option was all new to me, and summed up my husband perfectly, especially as Franck is now buried in his favourite town - where he created his petanque club. The idea of the boule as a grave marker was fantastic - Simon really takes the time to understand what would be appropriate for the family. Thank you again for making quite a traumatic time so much less so!
I can never thank Paul enough for the care taken with my husband George, no pomp, no ceremony & no stress, he just quietly & respectfully managed everything exactly as we wanted a simple burial in Bidwell woods. We as a family can now spend our time saying our goodbyes in our own time & our own way. Thank you again.
We are profoundly grateful for the compassionate, competent and heartful attention given throughout every stage of our Mum's ceremony... It was very comforting to hear the story of Mum's life woven together so well. We left sad but uplifted by the experience. A fitting send off, thank you so much. Many thanks also to Blue Geranium for the stunning flowers, bright to honour my Mum's zest for life.
Thank you both very much for all your arrangements and contributions last Saturday. The whole day was a rich fulfilment of Jean's wishes, and enabled a very varied "congregation" to join in, just as Jean had envisaged.