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London is set to have its first 'coffin club', where members decorate their own caskets while drinking tea and chatting freely about death.

Coffin Club North London will open in Tottenham in September, offering coffin design workshops and talks on how to avoid sombre funerals and make them colourful celebrations of life instead.

The idea for the “funeral revolution” was born in New Zealand in 2010 by former palliative care nurse Katie Williams.

She felt the people's happiness in life was not reflected in their funerals, so started up the Kiwi Coffin Club in her garage, inviting people for morning tea, lunch and coffin building sessions.

The movement soon sparked national and then international interest, spreading all the way to the British seaside town of Hastings, where the first UK branch opened in 2017.

Since then, eight more have opened across England with more in the pipeline, including London’s first.

Jane Morgan, 57, said she was inspired to set up her own offshoot having spent years working as a funeral celebrant – a non-clergy professional who delivers end of life ceremonies.

She was struck by the high costs of funerals, particularly in her community where many residents suffer financial hardship.

“Where I live in Tottenham, so many people are anxious about how they’re going to afford a funeral,” she told the Standard.

“Funeral poverty has become such a major societal issue, but people don’t realise you can do things your way.

“You don’t have to pay hundreds of pounds for a coffin and a burial in a churchyard, you don’t have to hold a funeral in a church at all.

“You could hold it in your back garden for free, you can build your coffin yourself. You don’t have to do anything you can’t afford and you can make it personal and creative.”

Ms Morgan said she wanted Coffin Club North London to be inclusive to all, explaining that it would focus on more than just buying and decorating caskets.

“Yes, the coffin-building is a big part of it, but more importantly we’ll be offering talks and speaker sessions, to help people navigate what can seem like a very daunting terrain.”

Those who do wish to buy and decorate their coffin will pay £250 for a “fabulous Dutch flat-packed” model, according to the UK-wide Coffin Club format.

The easy-to-build wooden boxes are “suitable for both burial and cremation” and the price includes “primer and a roller to get you started,” Coffin Club Colchester states on its website.

A Coffin Club course typically runs for six weeks, with each session lasting three hours including an hour of talks by invited speakers, such as hospice workers, crematorium managers, funeral directors and end of life doulas, the latter-life equivalent to birthing assistants, who are known for supporting women through labour.

To attend these weekly discussions, without the coffin building, costs £50 at most Coffin Clubs, with members on benefits being able to attend for free.

“We don’t ever want people to view these costs as prohibitive,” Ms Morgan said.

“We want to remove the stigma around discussing death and just give people the opportunity to feel empowered to be creative.”

She also stressed age should not be viewed as a hindrance.

Coffin Club North London threw a vibrant launch party in June, to which Ms Morgan welcomed guests of every age and background.

“I thought there would just be people around my age, or terminally ill, but it wasn’t like that at all.

“We had lots of people in their twenties and even younger. I think the youngest guest we had was 12 years old and she was really keen to get involved.”

So far, more than 15 people have signed up for the Tottenham branch’s first session, even though Ms Morgan hasn’t yet finalised a location.

“It’s not that easy to get people to agree to having their venue filled with coffins,” she laughed.

Fortunately, she has a shortlist of two interested landlords and the club’s home should be confirmed by the end of the month.

Coffin Club North London will be the country’s ninth outlet, and the movement’s UK founders said they want at least one to be set up in every British town.

Kate Tym, 50, and Kate Dyer, 47, told the Standard they were delighted that their version of the Kiwi model had sparked a national “funeral revolution”.

“We were just a couple of girls who were frustrated with the Dickensian-style funerals that have been the norm for too long,” said former magician’s assistant Ms Tym.

Since setting up their flagship in 2017, they’ve grown in popularity and reputation, earning a celebrity patron and becoming the subject of a BBC documentary.

Australian actress Miriam Margolyes, 77, deeply feared her own death but completing the Coffin Club course “demystified it for her” and she is now a proud patron of the group.

“Miriam said ‘everybody who’s going to die should go to coffin club’, and she meant it,” Ms Tym added.

Asked whether her work made her consider her own funeral rites, the 47-year-old said: “Oh yes, I know exactly what I want and my kids are going to decorate it.

“I’m having a life-size cutout of Kevin Bacon on the inside of the lid – that way he’s lying on top of me.

“It’s the only way I’ll ever get close to him,” she laughed.

“And it’s my funeral - why shouldn’t I have a bit of fun?"