The Pledge

What do we offer?

We offer a personal, knowledgeable and dignified service to ensure that every funeral service accords with the beliefs and values of those we serve and meets their aspirations.

We are committed to providing comprehensive, itemised pricing information within our price lists and on our website.  We have signed the Fair Funeral Pledge and recognise that funerals can be expensive, and many people struggle with the cost.  We are open about our most affordable options and offer a wide range of options to enable those we serve to make informed choices that are within their means.

We provide support to help families cope after the funeral and have a range of resources and events that can support a family through difficult times such as our Walk of Remembrance, Christmas Service of Remembrance and our Book of Memories for Father’s Day and Mothering Sunday.  Our Bereavement Support Groups allow people to have their feelings listened to at their greatest time of need and connect people into long lasting supportive friendships.  For those that would benefit from one to one support or counselling we can help with signposting to appropriate organisations.

Are we in safe hands?

Our staff are professionally trained to the highest of standards to ensure the bereaved can be confident that those who have died are in safe, respectful hands.  Specialist areas of training include dementia awareness, baby loss, the unique needs of the LGBT+ community, support for those bereaved through suicide, arranging the funeral of a child, bequeathing a body for medical research, bereavement benefits and accessing funding for funerals.   We are dedicated to carrying out our duties with integrity, respect and care.

We are a founder member of the Association of Green Funeral Directors and genuinely care about our environmental impact.  We can offer information and advice on funerals that are kind to the environment and work actively to ensure that we make sustainable choices when making business decisions, from investing in electric vehicles and championing plastic free flowers to buying eco-friendly toilet rolls for our funeral homes and avoiding one use plastic.  We offset our own carbon footprint and can help you work out how best to offset the carbon footprint of the funeral you arrange, should you wish to do so.

We are members of the Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors and the National Association of Funeral Directors and abide by their Funeral Promise.  We are committed to continuing professional development and hold a Licence to Practice issued by the British Institute of Funeral Directors.  We are recommended by both the Good Funeral Guide and the Natural Death Handbook.

Information and Education

Many people avoid thinking about funerals unless they really must – then at the time of bereavement they may not be in the best position to make important decisions.  We encourage people to seek out the information they need, help them find it, and actively support them to define their own funeral wishes before they die, either as part of a pre-paid funeral plan or simply through an expression of wishes.

We believe that young people should be encouraged to think and talk about issues surrounding death, grief and bereavement.  We offer advice on involving children at all stages of the funeral arrangements and have a range of practical resources designed to support bereaved children.  We work closely with Nelson’s Journey and Nature and Nurture Therapeutic Services  – local charities that support bereaved children – to ensure the schools in our area have access to complimentary training in how to support bereaved children.

We ensure that both the deceased person and the bereaved receive the best possible care and support. whilst providing advice for those comforting the bereaved and attending funerals.  This includes information about delivering a eulogy, writing a letter of condolence and cross-cultural funeral traditions.

We offer information and training to a range of professionals and partake in community initiatives with the aim of increasing awareness and therefore raising the bar in the way that the community responds to death, dying and bereavement.