Rottingdean rev's warning after "Staying Alive" funeral blunder

12:20pm Friday 4th February 2011 in News By Naomi Loomes

Rottingdean rev's warning after "Staying Alive" funeral blunder Rottingdean rev's warning after "Staying Alive" funeral blunder

A mourner must have felt his cheeks burning after his phone went off during a funeral.

But when the ringtone that echoed round the church was Staying Alive by the Bee Gees, it is fair to say he wished the earth could have swallowed him up.

Now Reverend Martin Morgan from St Margaret’s Church in Rottingdean has urged parishioners to make sure earthly communications are switched off while their thoughts turn to heavenly matters.

He said: “I don’t want to be one of those people who says ‘no phones’ ‘no cameras’, ‘no confetti’ but it could have been very awkward when that phone went off.

“It took a while before people realised what the song was and then fortunately most people found it quite funny. The culprit looked very embarrassed. I think they probably looked in the other direction and tried to pretend it wasn’t them. That’s what people usually do.”

For full story, see today's Argus.

Comments(12)

lordenglandofsussex says...
12:26pm Fri 4 Feb 11

Funerals for those who had a full life and natural death shouldn't be sad occasions anyway. I'm sure the spirit of the deceased was looking in and found it amusing.

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Lord Tilford says...
12:47pm Fri 4 Feb 11

It was deliberate

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uslot says...
12:49pm Fri 4 Feb 11

I know that if it was my funeral i would have been looking down and having a good old laugh.

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DigitalDiva says...
1:50pm Fri 4 Feb 11

When my Uncle Joe died his son gave the crematorium a tape (it was a while back) of classical guitar music to play. Unfortunately, nobody realised that the tape player had an auto-turn facility, and as the coffin was brought in, the machine went click and Lenny Kravitz's 'Are You Gonna Go My Way?' blared out. The answer, obviously, is 'yes'...

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Lorem Ipsum says...
2:56pm Fri 4 Feb 11

What has religion got to do with death anymore anyway??

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Vertical says...
3:01pm Fri 4 Feb 11

Could have been worse:
Another one bites the dust - Queen
Going underground - The Jam
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
Knock on wood - Amii Stewart

Just incase they were one of the lemmings that increasingly disrupt my coast road journey home:
Jump- Van halen
Sorry, couldn't resist!

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Granny says...
3:19pm Fri 4 Feb 11

I know I shouldn't find this hilarious, but this story really gave me a good laugh as have the above comments.

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Hove Ex-Pat says...
3:33pm Fri 4 Feb 11

If that upset the vicar, thank goodness the ringtone wasn't Meatloaf's "Bat out of Hell".

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tombraider59 says...
8:26am Sat 5 Feb 11

I must admit to having a good chuckle at this! On a more serious note, why is it that some people just cannot be separated from their mobiles, no matter what?

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Betty Blue says...
9:18am Sat 5 Feb 11

It was an attention seekers and I bet it was the same person who rang the Argus.

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paulhensby says...
11:46am Tue 8 Feb 11

There are great lists of secular songs appropriate (and sometimes a bit shocking) for funerals at the My Last Song website. Some of the suggestions here will be added!

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Tis I says...
10:25am Tue 1 Mar 11

Father Martin is a very down to earth (no pun intended) kind of bloke so i bet this will be speech/sermon material for some time to come.

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