A woman who has become known as the "funeral crasher" has attended send offs for over 200 strangers. Fifty-five-year-old Jeane Trend-Hill says she's "fascinated" with death and has travelled the world visiting cemeteries.
She began attending funerals after accidentally crashing one when she walked into a church during a service in 2012. After gaining a reputation for visiting graves, cemetery workers at Jeane's local haunt started to contact her when the deceased didn’t have any family or friends to see if she could attend their funeral.
Her family even joke and call her a "rent a mourner". The purpose is to make sure no one is cremated or buried alone and she also spends hours photographing and tidying graves.
Jeane, who is also an actress, photographer and artist, from Islington, London, said: "I'm proud to be that person that goes to strangers funerals when there is no one else who can attend. I’ve always been fascinated with death since I was a child."
"We would go to cemeteries, and I’d walk around looking at all the graves. They are like outdoor art galleries. I accidentally walked in on a funeral at a church but raised as a Catholic I knew not to leave once there.
"Even though I didn’t know the person I was deeply moved. When cemetery workers started to invite me to services for veterans who had no one else to pay their respects I obliged and went along. I realised that everyone has a story to tell, everyone has lived a life and should have someone around to remember them when they die."
Jeane has suffered a lot of bereavement personally. She lost her father, Joe, 56, when she was just 14 and her mother, Mary, 57, when she was just 20. She began to feel at home in cemeteries and crematoriums and would spend hours sketching and photographing London’s sprawling Victorian cemeteries.
The actress has gone as far as Paris and Venice to visit graves and is still passionate about caring for them even restoring the plaque for British architect Arthur Beresford Pite and unveiling it in Victorian mourning dress.
The first thing I do when I get somewhere is see where the closest crematory is, Jeane added: "I did a PhD in mortuary science and became a cemetery historian. Jeane is still passionate for caring for graves and has even restored the plaque for British architect Arthur Beresford Pite and unveiled it in Victorian mourning dress.
"Her family even joke and call her a 'rent a mourner'. It's a name they gave me and it's a bit fun. Of course I'd never actually make anyone pay for my attendance at a funeral.
"I’ll wear mourning dress to funerals if people ask me to. Death has never worried me. I hope I can make death feel less scary for people. It’s my way of giving something back."
