Kings Funerals<\/a>, a family business in operation for over 65 years.<\/p>\n\u201cMany Geelong and Surf Coast residents now prefer a funeral that is more relaxed, and that truly honours the life and personality of the deceased person.\u201d<\/p>\n
With four venues servicing clients from Golden Plains to Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula and Lorne, the team at Kings is well positioned to tap into the preferences of the region.<\/p>\n
Kings\u2019 senior operations manager and Torquay local, Briohny Fitzgerald, together with her husband, Irish big wave surfing legend Richie Fitzgerald, has witnessed many a \u2018paddle-out past the break\u2019 in honour of Surf Coast lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve realised that a space that matches the passion we all have for sun, sea and sand is hugely important,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraditional funeral homes can often feel sterile and unfamiliar, and even scary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Torquay, and in all our venues, we work on creating a space where people feel comfortable and relaxed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means people are far more likely to feel like connecting and sharing stories, which is of course key to the grieving process.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the light and bright new Torquay space, everything from the colourful paintings of local beaches to the soaps, scents and catering, comes from familiar, often favourite Surf Coast purveyors for a truly local feel.<\/p>\n
Chairs can also be arranged in circular or cabaret style seating formations, if traditional theatre seating doesn\u2019t feel right.<\/p>\n
Anything is possible – a rug on the floor, barefoot standing affairs, whatever is most suited to your gathering.<\/p>\n
Kings Funerals is also passionate about doing away with the stigma and fear surrounding funerals and death in general.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany people go through life not thinking about death at all, and not wanting to engage with it,\u201d Beth said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe avoid the euphemism of \u2018passed\u2019 or \u2018passed away\u2019, as it can be hard to grieve without acknowledging the reality of death.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe aim to help create a funeral gathering that is an authentic tribute to the person who has died, allowing those who loved them to support each other as they start to accept this new reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the last year, the Kings family has also experienced all the issues of dealing with bereavement during a pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGS Funerals has launched a new beach house style space for informal funeral gatherings in Torquay. With the build providing income for more than 20 local businesses during a lean summer, the new venue has been established in response to increasing interest in more relaxed, non-denominational funeral gatherings that focus on celebrating the life of […]<\/p>\n
Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":50445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-50444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew space caters for a less formal style of funeral becoming popular on the Surf Coast and beyond - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New space caters for a less formal style of funeral becoming popular on the Surf Coast and beyond - Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KINGS Funerals has launched a new beach house style space for informal funeral gatherings in Torquay. With the build providing income for more than 20 local businesses during a lean summer, the new venue has been established in response to increasing interest in more relaxed, non-denominational funeral gatherings that focus on celebrating the life of [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-31T13:37:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Untitled-design-17-5.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Times News Group\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Times News Group\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Times News Group\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c458b1ff60365992982bb7683264fe4b\"},\"headline\":\"New space caters for a less formal style of funeral becoming popular on the Surf Coast and beyond\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-31T13:37:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":461,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-17-5.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/\",\"name\":\"New space caters for a less formal style of funeral becoming popular on the Surf Coast and beyond - Surf Coast Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-17-5.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-31T13:37:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-17-5.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/Untitled-design-17-5.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Beth King and Chelsea King. Photo: ALAN BARBER\\\/BAREFOOT MEDIA\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New space caters for a less formal style of funeral becoming popular on the Surf Coast and beyond\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Surf Coast Times\",\"description\":\"Free local news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Surf Coast Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"width\":350,\"height\":38,\"caption\":\"Surf Coast Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c458b1ff60365992982bb7683264fe4b\",\"name\":\"Times News Group\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/author\\\/timesnewsgroup\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New space caters for a less formal style of funeral becoming popular on the Surf Coast and beyond - Surf Coast Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New space caters for a less formal style of funeral becoming popular on the Surf Coast and beyond - Surf Coast Times","og_description":"KINGS Funerals has launched a new beach house style space for informal funeral gatherings in Torquay. With the build providing income for more than 20 local businesses during a lean summer, the new venue has been established in response to increasing interest in more relaxed, non-denominational funeral gatherings that focus on celebrating the life of [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/","og_site_name":"Surf Coast Times","article_published_time":"2021-03-31T13:37:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Untitled-design-17-5.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Times News Group","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Times News Group","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/"},"author":{"name":"Times News Group","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/person\/c458b1ff60365992982bb7683264fe4b"},"headline":"New space caters for a less formal style of funeral becoming popular on the Surf Coast and beyond","datePublished":"2021-03-31T13:37:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/"},"wordCount":461,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Untitled-design-17-5.png","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/","name":"New space caters for a less formal style of funeral becoming popular on the Surf Coast and beyond - Surf Coast Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Untitled-design-17-5.png","datePublished":"2021-03-31T13:37:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Untitled-design-17-5.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/03\/Untitled-design-17-5.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Beth King and Chelsea King. Photo: ALAN BARBER\/BAREFOOT MEDIA"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/informal-funerals-surf-coast\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New space caters for a less formal style of funeral becoming popular on the Surf Coast and beyond"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/","name":"Surf Coast Times","description":"Free local news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization","name":"Surf Coast Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","width":350,"height":38,"caption":"Surf Coast Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/person\/c458b1ff60365992982bb7683264fe4b","name":"Times News Group","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/author\/timesnewsgroup\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50444"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=50444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}