The Society is always keen to recruit new celebrants and training will be given to suitable applicants. Prospective celebrants should share the secular humanist outlook on life and must have good inter personal skills – tact, sensitivity and empathy are very important. Public speaking experience is not essential, but is an advantage.

All humanist ceremonies –especially funerals - are the celebration of a life, and although they are non-religious, they are dignified and personal. Celebrants have to be available at short notice to conduct a funeral - sometimes working under the pressure of limited time. The role especially suits people who are self-employed or retired.

Celebrants charge a fee for conducting a ceremony, with certain exceptions (eg the funeral of a baby, or a child under sixteen). The fee is small in relation to the work involved, so it should not be regarded as a substantial source of income. However, although not financially rewarding, celebrants take great satisfaction from helping clients to have the sort of funeral or other ceremony which is really meaningful to them.

Although weddings and child-naming ceremonies are becoming increasingly popular, funerals continue to make up most of our work and provide the focus of initial training. Our training courses to be come a funeral celebrant are usually held once a year with the next one being in the spring of 2010, date to be confirmed. The first part is two day residential with a  further one day at a nearby crematorium. There is a fee payable to the society to cover all costs. After graduating successfully from the programme, new celebrants will undergo a period of mentoring by shadowing more experienced colleagues before going on to conduct ceremonies on their own. Once it is considered that they are ready the celebrant will be reviewed and if successful, added to our register of celebrants. The Area Co-ordinators provide ongoing support, and most celebrants are happy to help each other with advice over the phone or via our well-established e-group. Celebrants from all over Scotland meet together each year at where in additionto decisions being made they share experiences and discuss problems arising in the work.

Our waiting list for places on Celebrant training courses in 2010 is now full. We will update this page when applications for Celebrant training are re-opened. Thank you for you interest in becoming a Humanist Celebrant.