A woman from Bristol, England, had one final surprise for her family and friends at her funeral after she died of tongue cancer on September 19, 2023. 

Sandie Wood, 65, wasn’t going to let death get the best of her.

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Wood had a flash mob crash her funeral, planning a song-and-dance routine for the mourners.

The dance crew even led Wood’s mourners out of the funeral home in a conga line for the grand finale. 

Six months before she died, Wood’s friend Sam Ryalls hired the dance crew the Flaming Feathers to dance to Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust” at her impending funeral.

Wood was one of the thousands to be infected with Hepatitis C in the 1970s and 80s in England after being given a blood transfusion with infected blood.

Initially, the funeral guests were unsure of how to react, but they eventually joined the flash mob in the celebration.

Flaming Feathers’ manager Claire Phipps noted that Ryalls booked the dance crew to perform with Wood’s blessing, saying “it was definitely not your normal gig.”

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“Sandie basically planned her own funeral,” Phipps explained.

The Flaming Feathers were the 11th group Wood and Ryalls approached to perform at the funeral, as 10 previous dance crews passed on the opportunity, finding it too dark to participate in.

Ryalls stated that Wood “wanted everyone to remember her funeral but not for a sad reason.”

“Everyone is sad and grieving because she is not here anymore but that doesn’t mean her final day had to be that way,” Ryalls continued.

Phipps concurred that “we got some very funny and mixed reactions at first, but we got the crowd going.”

“They were all clapping to the music, and they were all really thankful and enjoyed it after,” she continued.

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“It was very odd to first pretend to be there for the funeral, and then to see family and friends crying and upset,” Phupps noted. “To then have to get up and rock out to Queen felt very weird– but it did go really well.”

Wood left the earth she lived on it— with her unique sense of humor and cheeky joyfulness.

She was buried in a specially-made coffin lined with her favorite shoes. 

The coffin was decorated with the words “going out in style” along the side. 

Wood arrived fashionably late to her own funeral, with a horse-drawn carriage leading the coffin into the funeral home. 

“She was one of a kind, so she left the world how she lived it, being herself,” explained Ryalls. 

Wood’s funeral is a fine example of how to celebrate life along the full spectrum of grief and joy.

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Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.