Family Funeral Director in the heart of the Chilterns, Widmer End

In July 1987, my late mum asked me what I wanted to do on leaving school and I replied, “I want to become a Funeral Director, mum” – to which she replied, “Really!” The next week, I arrived home from school to find my mum had arranged for me to visit a funeral director in our home town of Huddersfield. After my visit I knew this was the profession I wanted to enter, so in September 1987, I enrolled in a YTS scheme for a one year course.

During my training I was taught how to arrange and conduct funerals, along with all the procedures to running an office. I gained a full-time position in a funeral directors and in 1991 aged 21 I passed my Diploma in Funeral Directing. I was one of the youngest, qualified funeral directors in the UK at that time.

In 1996 I qualified as an embalmer whilst working in a busy funeral directors, who dealt with over 1,000 funerals a year. In 2000 I become an area manager for the Co-operative Funeral Services in the areas of Clacton on Sea and Oxford.

In 2008 I became a freelance embalmer visiting various funeral directors in the South of England. When Covid-19 hit in 2020, I reverted back to becoming a funeral director working for an online company. As my experience and knowledge of our profession was excellent the funeral directors that provided our care facilities offered me a position as a general manager at their Aylesbury branch in November 2021. I had great pleasure in working with a well-established third generation family owned and run funeral directors.

In 2024 I decided to establish my own family owned and run funeral directors and ‘Widmer End and District Funeral Directors’ was established. My aim, is to provide a professional and caring service, which I done all my life, and to help guide families through the funeral process with dignity and compassion.