1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,240 You're listening to the Arch Publications Business Insight podcast. On this edition, 2 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:15,000 I interview Abby and Jason. They're the owners of Larvin and Clegg Funeral Care based in 3 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:21,240 Congleton. Keep listening to find out what Jason said that made me react like this. 4 00:00:21,240 --> 00:00:26,840 Did not know, but that makes sense. Wow, that's amazing. 5 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:32,800 Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Just search for Arch Publications. 6 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:39,320 Hope you enjoy the Arch Publications podcast. Hi, I'm Katie from Arch Publications and you're 7 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:45,360 listening to our podcast series where I go out and meet local businesses. And if you go around 8 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:50,920 the one way system in Congleton, you will have probably noticed a new funeral business. Well, 9 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:55,400 it's not actually that new. It's been here for four years. We're going to hear all about it from 10 00:00:55,400 --> 00:01:01,080 the owners. We've got Jason and Abby here from Larvin and Clegg Funeral Care. So I want to start 11 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:05,640 with obviously I mentioned you have been here for four years, but you didn't just appear as funeral 12 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:10,000 directors. You must have done something before that. So do you want to start Jason by telling me 13 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:17,160 a bit about your career history? Firstly, hello Katie. Hello. My career is an interesting one 14 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:23,800 really. I started in, well actually I decided at age 14 I wanted to be an undertaker. I was raised 15 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:28,600 in rural West Yorkshire where everything's on hillsides and I was the sort of kid that I was 16 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,920 at the jam jar in my pocket catching grasshoppers and other insects. I was always interested in 17 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:39,240 natural sciences and one of the places that we always found lots and lots of wildlife to catch 18 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:45,000 was Cemetery because on a hillside they have long grass and as a child I found myself clambering over 19 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,720 big lumps of stone that had you know writing on them. Been there for hundreds of years? Absolutely. 20 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:54,440 And then through time realised that there were actually graves and then realised that underneath 21 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:59,560 one of six feet under here there are skeletons and there's absolutely fascinated by things. 22 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:05,320 And then I was out walking with my mum and she made a stop at the side of the road and I didn't 23 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:10,680 actually understand what was going on but she made a stop and bow her heads and a cortege came past 24 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:17,320 and I looked at the cortege of the black cars and the coffin and I thought that's what I'm going to 25 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:21,800 do. So at age 14 I went to school and said I'm going to be an undertaker. Work's experience was 26 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:26,360 interesting they sent me to a graphic designers. Oh actually I might have quite enjoyed that to be fair. 27 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:31,640 Ironically I learned a great deal in those two weeks and it served as it served as well over 28 00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:35,800 the years. Got to age 21 and I managed to get myself a work placement in the mortuary at 29 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:41,320 Huddersfield Royal in February. So how did you do that? I wrote to the Chamber of Commerce 30 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:47,160 because one of our neighbours was a paramedic and he knew that the Huddersfield mortuary had taken 31 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:52,600 on a girl a couple of years earlier via the Chamber of Commerce on a training programme. 32 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:57,480 So I wrote to the hospital, I wrote to the Chamber of Commerce, finally I managed to get an 33 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:04,760 interview and they accepted me which was a massive achievement in itself. So at age 21 I found myself 34 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:10,680 rolling up my sleeves and you know the first two days I was there was involved in post mortems. 35 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,760 Is this just going back a bit did you have did you sort of aim to get certain qualifications 36 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:18,200 then? Did someone say if you want to do this you need to have these qualifications? 37 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:25,160 No, purely it was a weigh in. I had no joy, luckily, working with the local funeral directors. I'd 38 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:30,360 written to them all and asked them for a job but you know there's lots of people that want to work 39 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:36,040 in funeral service and it can be quite difficult to actually get a door to open. Going back 30 years 40 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:41,000 many of those family run services were very much if you're not part of the family you don't get a 41 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:46,520 foot in the door. The only other avenue I thought was potentially I could become an embalmer. 42 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:51,240 My dad's newer gentleman who was also an embalmer and he suggested that you know an 43 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:55,880 embalming route might be the way forward and I initially wrote to the hospital quite naively 44 00:03:55,880 --> 00:04:00,280 to ask them if they could offer me an embalming experience. Obviously at the time not realising 45 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:07,960 that hospitals don't embalm. They accepted me on the basis that I told them that all I wanted to 46 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:13,320 do really was learn as much as I could and hopefully through them getting introduction to one of the 47 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:17,160 local funeral directors who would hopefully take me on an apprenticeship. Is that what happened though? 48 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:17,880 Um no! 49 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:27,640 It was a galleon's effort. No, no it didn't happen like that. I bet like you know when you're going 50 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:32,120 clubbing in Leeds because actually we're a similar age and I lived in Leeds about the same time as 51 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:38,520 this and we used to go to majestics and all those places and I'd be like looking round at the fellas 52 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:45,320 and I'd be like hi come over to you and what do you do? I once got very very drunk and I was 53 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:51,240 sat in a nightclub and a lovely young lady came sat next to me and she just had to tell me she 54 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:57,480 was a nurse and I went oh are you I used to work in the mortuary. Literally spent the next 20 minutes 55 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:02,600 barring this poor girl on how to dissect somebody for a post mortem. I bet she was actually quite 56 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:09,000 interested. I don't think so because she didn't stick around. Oh okay. So it's not Abbie who you 57 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:14,680 have next to you now. He's also your wife and your work wife. Well technically we're not married. Oh 58 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:20,360 oh sorry. And on Valentine's Day that's become a touchy subject. How long have you been together for? 59 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:27,080 Almost five years. Because you obviously just from the very short time we've been talking 60 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:33,000 you are so passionate about your job. I'm not saying that you're not Abbie but Jason when I 61 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,640 came to meet you the first time we talked for a long time because it's clear you're really passionate 62 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:41,400 about your job and I know I've gone off track a bit really because we were talking about your 63 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:46,840 career history and going over that what you've done before and how you got started just reinforces 64 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:51,960 that you're so passionate about your job. I've had conversations over the years when I've been driving 65 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:56,360 herces and I've had clergy at the side of me and I've had conversations with priests and vickers 66 00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:01,720 and other ministers and they always talk about they felt a calling to their role and I actually 67 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:07,080 identify with that because at age 14 I was sat there looking at headstones and being fascinated 68 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:13,880 by the fact that there were people you know buried in the ground. So for both of us the line of work 69 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:20,120 that we're in isn't a job. It's a way of life. I think I may have said to you before about Christmas 70 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:25,880 Day it's an analogy I use all the time that if Christmas Day is your favorite day and it's the 71 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,560 one time of year when your family are all around and they're coming for Christmas 72 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:34,600 Day and Christmas Day is your favorite dinner and you're so excited about it. Your phone rings 73 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:40,760 and there's a family that's just lost somebody important to them then your Christmas dinner 74 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:45,560 can wait that's what microwaves are for you know and if you've not got that level of commitment 75 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:51,320 go and do something else because this is not it's not a job it's a way of life. 76 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:56,440 So I'm just going to turn to Abby now so what's your career history then? 77 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:05,880 So mine's not as exciting as Jason's. I wouldn't use the word exciting but I would say interesting. 78 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:13,240 Yeah well I finished school and went on to college to do beauty therapy and studied in 79 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:17,160 beauty therapy for a couple of years then had a little break from that and worked abroad for a few 80 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:23,480 years and then came back and went back to beauty therapy and then after that just decided that I 81 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:28,680 kind of wanted to do something a little different but I wasn't quite sure what so I had a choice 82 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:34,600 really between going into something like midwifery so my two choices were midwifery or funeral care 83 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:40,840 right so where Jason- birth or death? Yeah exactly so where Jason says he had a call in for funeral 84 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:48,360 care I had a sort of maybe a call in for a care in profession so it was either help someone into life 85 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:54,600 or help someone over to the other side and just applied for a job and started as a part-time funeral 86 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,600 arranger. In Congleton because you're from Congleton aren't you? Yeah originally from Congleton then 87 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,680 worked in Sandbatch at the moment but no my part-time funeral arranger job was in 88 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:10,520 Crue. Okay so then worked my way up a little bit through the roles and then ended up in in Manchester. 89 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:14,920 I mean it's quite nice because I didn't really have I didn't know what path I wanted to follow but 90 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:21,320 I think we're a believer in that your paths already set out for you so we were meant to sort of meet 91 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:26,840 each other and we believe that don't we? I feel the same way about my husband as well he'd be nothing 92 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:41,240 without me. We're very fortunate in that we our paths crossed um Abbey downplays her role slightly 93 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:47,160 I mean she had an she held an important position in in her working which wasn't just a part-time 94 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:51,560 funeral arranger she was one of the managers she was overseeing a team of funeral arrangers. I always 95 00:08:51,560 --> 00:08:56,520 describe myself as just a simple undertaker because that's all I ever wanted to be but the fact is is 96 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:02,280 that between as we had such a dynamic skill set every job within within a funeral we take care 97 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:08,120 of in house and between as we've got an incredible skill set which means that we when we say to a 98 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:13,080 family we will look after your loved one as though they're a member of our family well we mean it and 99 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:17,720 we can back that up we because we've got all the skills in house to do that. I once watched Abbey 100 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:23,480 glueing individual eyelashes onto a lady that passed away she was not very old she'd taken 101 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:28,840 her own life sadly her eyelashes had been damaged through the process and you spent three hours 102 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:33,160 didn't you it glueing individual eyelashes on to make this girl look as beautiful as possible 103 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:38,520 there's an element in our we were very specific when we named our funeral service funeral you know 104 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:44,440 laughing and like funeral care yeah and it's the care aspect but it's not just the care of a family 105 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:50,040 obviously that's a given people we understand that when people come here they're not necessarily in 106 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:54,200 a good place they're not coming here because they want to they're you know they're usually going 107 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:58,600 through one of the worst moments in their lives something that is it's horrible if you've ever 108 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:04,200 experienced grief and loss so of course our job is to care for that family but our job is also to 109 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:10,200 care for the person that's passed away and I really do believe that Abbey and I have got that skill 110 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:17,400 set absolutely nailed down yeah we're just currently sat in your premises which is a really nice calming 111 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:23,480 environment it's really comfortable you it's really nicely decorated you've got modern chairs it 112 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:28,520 doesn't feel like oppressive and it doesn't feel patronizing either because you have this vision 113 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:33,400 of some places you go into them they might be just slightly you know you don't have that depth that 114 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:37,800 they actually generally mean it but in here you feel like you genuinely do mean it does that make 115 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:47,640 sense by the way you've decorated Abbey's responsible for that okay yeah yeah we just didn't want the 116 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:53,560 darkness that you find with the traditional funeral homes so we wanted something that was just 117 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:58,760 neutral but cozy that's what it's like yeah that gives you the cozy homely feel and it's just 118 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:03,560 decor that we would we would have in our house if you know if we were decorating so we just sort of 119 00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:09,240 base try and base everything on comfort comfort yeah and try and make people as comfortable as 120 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:14,520 possible and relaxed one of the things that we've often found is because we we just try to create 121 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:19,320 an environment where people could relax and talk because not everybody that comes through the door 122 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:24,200 has lost someone people that come through the door may be facing you know a long-term illness that 123 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:30,600 they may pass away from and we don't want people coming in into a dark Victorian funeral home we 124 00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:34,920 wanted to create an environment where they could just come in relax and talk and very often we find 125 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:39,800 that we sit down and Abbey's usually got a notepad taking notes and we're just having a conversation 126 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:44,520 in the chat and the family arranged the funeral without realizing they've arranged the funeral 127 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:48,680 just from just from conversation we did that I don't know when I first came in it was really 128 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:54,440 weird I felt like the need to tell you how I wanted to have my funeral I don't know why it's like 129 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:58,520 you know that was the first time we met and I found myself saying I actually want this and I want that 130 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:02,600 and you know and that's just obviously something that you're very good at getting out of people 131 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:08,840 I think we say it a lot don't we like if we go out Jason says I'm not talking about work tonight 132 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:14,360 because people when they see us they automatically want to talk about what we do don't they yeah 133 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:19,320 yeah and like you said they'll tell us what what they want to do because I don't know I think it's 134 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:23,320 one of them where they feel like they can't talk to other people about it but they want to talk about 135 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:28,920 it yes people want to talk about death that is so true yeah and this and this is an environment we 136 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:34,120 say it all the time is that you can have anything that you want there is no right or wrong yeah 137 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:39,720 what's the strangest request you have had then we don't have strange requests okay 138 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:45,480 fair enough yeah it doesn't if someone said well we'd like Abby to skateboard in front of the 139 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:55,320 hearse wearing a pink tutu then Abby would practice yeah I've not got a lot balanced 140 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:04,760 so there is there is we don't there isn't a weird okay we were very fortunate because in in Manchester 141 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:10,920 we worked in an area where it was really diverse both in religion and culture and so we've seen all 142 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:16,120 aspects of them yeah you know we we've looked after funerals for the Jewish community you know 143 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:22,520 they want everything done within 24 hours but they practically do everything themselves so we're 144 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:26,920 there just as a guiding rule we've looked after Sikh funerals where we've had busloads of people 145 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:32,920 coming from all over the place we've looked after West Indian evangelical funerals which are just 146 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:38,280 incredible aren't they yeah lots of music yep absolutely yeah everybody's up singing I'd love 147 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:43,560 that I'd love a gospel choir at my funeral I'd love that I say that all the time yeah maybe when 148 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:50,120 we get married I'll have one there yeah yeah the thing is is that I think where other cultures do 149 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:55,560 funerals better than us is that they're not very celebrating yes that's so true I think one of the 150 00:13:55,560 --> 00:14:01,400 things that we have tried to do in our approach has been to celebrate people's lives don't get me wrong 151 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:07,640 if people want very dark very Victorian very what I call meat and two vegetable funerals we can do 152 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:12,920 them if that's what people want but actually if you if you walk up and down Congleton High Street 153 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:18,040 and stopped everybody and said what would your perfect funeral be very very few people will say 154 00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:23,080 well I want everyone to wear black yeah true and we've just picked up on the fact that life can be 155 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:29,080 celebrated and it doesn't matter whether that life's you know a couple of hours or a hundred years 156 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:34,200 I fancy doing something quite exciting but as long as my coffin as it gets lowered into the ground 157 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:39,320 my husband throws himself on it screaming don't go don't go that's all I want to have in my head 158 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:43,480 you know as I am I dying on my deathbed a vision of Matt going don't go don't go 159 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:53,000 having briefly met Matt we know he's not he's not the biggest of Japs so I think providing 160 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:59,400 we've got six people to lower the coffin down yeah should be okay we'll be all right getting back out 161 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:06,520 yeah yeah it's not me you'll be fine yeah I mean you can have anything that you like good it's your 162 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:12,840 funeral why did you decide to go out on your own and and do it move away from working for corporate 163 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:19,400 the the problem with working for a corporate is that you are very restricted and everything and 164 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:24,280 every day is about sales it's about pushing whatever you can sell because they're interested 165 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:29,480 in making money and I respect that businesses have to make money for us it didn't sit comfortable does 166 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:35,240 it neither of us are salespeople I mean yeah we know like we say routinely you can have anything 167 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:39,800 that you want but we don't sell it so you know if you ask this for it you can have it but you'll 168 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:45,720 never hear us saying that he's a coffee morose yeah choose a coffin the levels of care that you 169 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:53,080 as a family receive and as a female professional can give within a large corporate is a lot less 170 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:58,360 because you you know they could be looking after two or three funerals every day so how do you give 171 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:03,560 each family the care and attention that they deserve so if I came in here to organize a funeral 172 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:08,360 with you you would be the ones doing it but in a corporate environment you might get to organize 173 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:12,200 it with somebody else and you won't necessarily get to meet the person who's dealing with it yeah 174 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:17,960 so Abbie we'll tell you that you had a team of arrangers didn't you yeah so the arrangers will 175 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:22,280 do the funeral arrangements do everything that needs to be done to make sure the funeral can go 176 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:26,680 ahead and then pass it pass everything to the funeral director on the day oh so the funeral 177 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:32,520 director on the day doesn't necessarily meet not necessarily sometimes sometimes it is able to happen 178 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:39,320 isn't it sometimes it's not and I had situations in Manchester where I would arrive at the crematorium 179 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:44,920 with a hearse and a coffin and and go and introduce myself to a family and say oh and who's who because 180 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:49,960 I've never actually had you know physical meeting with them there are some instances where we'd have 181 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,960 a funeral director that may be calling sick and we'd get a call from the manager saying we need 182 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,880 you at this crematorium at this time and you get there and you don't even know if the person that 183 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:03,400 you are taken into crematorium is a man or a woman and I understand and respect that that's what works 184 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,360 for their business but we wanted to do wanted to do things better Abbie's family are all from 185 00:17:08,360 --> 00:17:14,440 Congleton obviously I'm not with my adult city Yorkshire because it isn't like your dad used to 186 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:18,920 have your businesses in Congleton didn't he yeah so my mum and dad used to own the off license which 187 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:23,480 was Hickox it's just on Mill Street just at the bottom of the road and my dad used to work at 188 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:35,520 Munokee 189 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:28,600 the leisure centre he was the manager there and he's quite famous yeah he's a little mini-celeb on 190 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:35,320 our funeral he's not been on a funeral yet where someone doesn't know who he is yeah yeah in fact 191 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:53,600 special license strap. Oh, okay. It's just a car license. Okay, I think that's going 192 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:57,480 to be on my bucket list of things to do actually. So you think you can take our 193 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:01,560 horse for a drive? No, I mean actually drive for a funeral. We can arrange that for you 194 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:04,880 as well. Yeah. The training that we have to do. That's fine, you just have to drive in 195 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:09,680 a low gear, don't you? It's automatic. Oh, is it? Okay, at least for that reason. Because 196 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:14,400 you have to, what is the speed you drive at then when you? So there's an unwritten rule 197 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:19,000 that it's 10 miles an hour below the speed limit. So the speed limit's 30, we drive at 198 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:25,200 20. Right, okay. Because we have to be respectful. You also don't want to annoy people. But we 199 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:29,240 don't want to hold people up behind us. Because obviously there's, you know, people have got 200 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,400 their lives to go. Have you ever had anybody angry driving past going, yeah. Well, we've 201 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:36,880 had people cut between the horse and the limousine and roundabouts, things like that. Unfortunately, 202 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:41,320 we're living in a society where people have become very self-centered. Yeah. And the respect 203 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:47,000 shown at funerals is less. I won't say that it's completely. No, I mean, it's still nice 204 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,120 when we're driving along the road. People stop. People do stop and they'll bow and they'll 205 00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:55,440 take the hats off and that's really nice to see. Yeah. So it is still there. Yeah. I 206 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:59,760 think it's just trying to teach our younger generations to... Yeah. It does make you feel 207 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:05,280 really sad when you see somebody passing by because you kind of remind you of how fragile 208 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:10,640 life is. Absolutely. And you must get reminded of that, like literally every day. Yeah. How 209 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:15,240 do you cope with that then? We don't. We don't. Well, Nick. We don't take it home with us. 210 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:21,800 No. It's not our... It's not our grief. It's our job to ensure that that family can grieve. 211 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:27,600 It's not our place to grieve. Yeah. So we're very caring, but we're also very professional. 212 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:31,600 We're very distant. Don't get me wrong. There are some situations where you cannot not get 213 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:37,480 involved. But obviously the family don't see that side of us. No. So we obviously care for 214 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:42,080 them and their loved one. Have you done counselling training then, either of you? No. We're just 215 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:50,920 both very, by nature, just very nice, caring people. Well, that's a matter of opinion, 216 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:58,880 isn't it? No, if you genuinely do seem to be... If I was to get knocked down by a bus when 217 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:03,200 I leave here, hopefully I won't. This is where I'll come. Well, unfortunately, if you got 218 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:07,640 knocked down by the bus, that would be referred to Coroner. Oh, yeah. So you would be taken 219 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:11,680 into Coroner's cases. Well, you could come like a week later. Yeah, yeah. Two weeks, 220 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:16,720 absolutely. Okay, yeah. Hopefully that never happens. Yeah, hopefully. But it's like we laugh 221 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:21,720 and joke and say to people, nobody's ever really happy to meet us first time at the 222 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,760 meeters, but then we've got... We refer to our families as fuel families, and many of 223 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:29,600 them have become our friends on there. Yeah. You'd be amazed how many times that door opens 224 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:34,760 and incomes are laid with a cake for us. Aww. We're still... We're very actively involved 225 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:39,240 with Georgia's family, aren't we? Yeah. So obviously, Georgia Leoghund, who was sadly 226 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:44,400 killed in the car crash in Asbury. Yeah, very young. Yeah. This is a perfect example of 227 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:49,920 one that we could not switch off from, could we? Yeah, no. No, that won't. And three years 228 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:53,800 on, Georgia still plays an important part in our lives. Don't you get involved in some 229 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,680 charity fundraising? Which I support whatever activities Georgia's family are undertaking. 230 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:03,440 And what will they do for Easter, are they? Yeah, so they are currently doing an Easter 231 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:07,360 raffle. Oh, okay. So we're one of the collection points. There is a couple of others I can't 232 00:21:07,360 --> 00:21:10,480 remember off the top of my head, but we're one of the collection points. So we'll collect 233 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:16,840 the Easter eggs and then hand them over to Mandy and Mark, and they pop lovely hampers 234 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:22,320 together and raffle them off. So we have also got raffle tickets. Mark dropped them in 235 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:27,320 earlier. We can tell the raffle tickets as well for them, but it's something that we 236 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:31,040 do each year. We get involved with them. And we always will. And these things that you 237 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:35,200 do for the family, they're on your Facebook, aren't they? So people want to know, keep 238 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,480 up with the things that you are doing. They can monitor your Facebook page. Yeah, everything 239 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:42,840 that we do. And we do try and do quite a few charity events through the year. So everything 240 00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:48,840 goes on our social media, so Instagram and Facebook. Okay. There is an element still 241 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:53,560 of taboo around deaf and funerals. And one of the things that we've tried to do from 242 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:58,200 day one is try and break down those barriers. And we try and show people that we're just 243 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:03,000 a family. People are fascinated by what we do. But for us, we're just a family doing 244 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,240 what we do. We take care of your family, don't we? 245 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:12,640 I think I just think people need to come and meet you because you are really nice people 246 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:16,240 and you know what you're talking about. And the great thing is you are a shop front that 247 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:20,160 people can come in. Don't have to make an appointment necessary. You might have to ring 248 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:25,560 the bell because you might be in the back making a brew or prepping a coffin. I didn't 249 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:35,040 want it. Or on the toilet. I'm just trying to think more, you know. But they can come 250 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:40,600 in and they can sit on this comfortable sofa and they can talk to you about what they might 251 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:45,400 want and just learn about you and know that when it is their time or family's time that 252 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:50,240 who's going to be looking after them is somebody with your nature and your experience. 253 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:56,240 Yeah. And it is just myself and Jason that look after the people when they come to us. 254 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:01,080 Yeah. Apart from the weekends when we've got all the kids, you know, if someone passes 255 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:05,320 us away in the middle of the night, it'll be myself and Abby that go and collect them. 256 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,920 We do everything in house, don't we? Yeah. Just the two of us. And then obviously 257 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:13,000 on the day of the funeral, we have gentlemen to help us. But other than that, it's just 258 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,160 myself and Jason. Do you think, oh, sorry, you're going to say something? 259 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:21,760 One of them is your dad, his family, and Glen, we think he's a distant cousin as well. 260 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:22,760 He's a distant cousin as well. 261 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:23,760 Oh, he's a right family at birth. 262 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:24,760 Yeah. 263 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:27,440 You're going to be having an open day, aren't you, very soon? 264 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:33,920 We are. April 15th. I believe it's a Saturday. So we've done this before. We've held like 265 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,920 a couple of events, Macmillan Coffee Mornings, a grief relief cafe, which is almost like 266 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:41,480 your death cafes that you often hear about. We've done a couple of those on my way. 267 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:43,200 Are you going to be doing more of those? 268 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:48,760 Yeah. Yeah. Because one of the things that, like I said to you earlier, that many of the 269 00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:52,800 funeral families that we've taken care of have become friends. And it's actually quite 270 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:57,440 nice for people just to come in and have a slice of cake and cup of tea and whatever 271 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:02,440 else in the chat. Very often, the person's final memory of their loved one might be their 272 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:07,200 loved one laying in our chapel of rest. And we want that to be a positive experience. We 273 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:11,320 want them to be something that they can take away and try. I'm glad I went to see Nan, 274 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:15,600 you know, she looked beautiful. But very often also is that this place, as much as we've 275 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:19,800 tried to make it as modern and relaxing and comfortable as possible, can still hold quite 276 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:24,520 difficult memories for people because they're going through difficult moments in their life. 277 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:29,320 By having these events, it just allows people to come in and experience something other 278 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:34,560 than a funeral. The open day we want to do because we firmly believe that our facility 279 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:40,080 is the best that you will find in this town. Our mortuary is like a hospital operating theatre. 280 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:44,760 Our embarming table is a former hospital post mortem table. And we believe in transparency, 281 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:49,480 don't we? We've we said from day one that funerals shouldn't be taboo. People should 282 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:54,480 have the right to go and see where your mum's going to be embarmed or even ask, can I come 283 00:24:54,480 --> 00:25:00,400 and help you dress my dad? You know, the answer is yes. And so just to show people that don't 284 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:05,360 know us, we're just an ordinary family. But to show people that might need our services 285 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:07,560 in the future, have a look come and see us. 286 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:13,520 And so that's on the 15th. Is that a Saturday? Saturday. People will literally be able to 287 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,360 look at the whole place, have a look at the room where you said you do the embalming. 288 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:21,320 If they've got any questions about that process, you're going to be able to answer those questions. 289 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,680 And yeah, I think that's amazing that you're going to do that. You've shown me round and 290 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:29,160 I was fascinated by it because it's like you said, it's like a secret world in a way. 291 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:35,560 It is. But but also in many respects, we've seen both go down bad within the funeral service 292 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:41,960 and we know of facilities that are nowhere near the level of standard that we operate 293 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:47,520 at. And I think by showing people what it should be like will enable people to be better, 294 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:51,000 be better informed, have more information so that even if they choose to go to another 295 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:56,760 funeral director, which of course is absolutely they're right, at least they know what they 296 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,160 should be asking and what the standard should be, where the bar should be. 297 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,160 It's all about transparency. 298 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:06,760 Yeah, I think that's a great idea. So that's the 15th. What time is it going to start? 299 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:07,760 Do you know yet? 300 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:09,760 Probably about 10 30 with cake. 301 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:15,480 There's always cakes at all of our events because we've got some lovely ladies that 302 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:16,480 like to bring us. 303 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:20,160 Oh, that's really nice. But if they can't make it then they can pop in any time. 304 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:24,960 Yeah, absolutely. The door is always open unless it's locked because we're in the back 305 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:25,960 and back. 306 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:28,160 Or out at a funeral. Yeah. 307 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:30,760 Would you put a sign on the door if you're out at the funeral? 308 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,360 It depends. Not out to lunch. 309 00:26:33,360 --> 00:26:34,360 Out at a funeral. 310 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:40,360 It depends because most of the time the door is open and most of the time you're here. 311 00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:46,080 So there are some funnels where Abbey has a really strong connection with a family and 312 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,160 they almost insist on you being there. 313 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:49,160 Yeah. 314 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:52,280 But other times it's myself and a really professional crew. 315 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:53,280 Yeah. 316 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:56,480 Because when we're out on a funeral the phone can still ring. 317 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:57,480 Yeah, of course. 318 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:02,520 We still need a member of that family to pick up that phone and help that family that are 319 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:03,520 calling us. 320 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,880 As I keep repeating, nobody is ever happy to meet us the first time. 321 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:12,000 Although I have to say, we only started the podcast series last year and don't tell anybody 322 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,960 else but this has been one of my favourite interviews. 323 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:19,800 Obviously, like, you know, don't tell all my other interview people. 324 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:20,800 I'm sure they won't mind. 325 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:27,000 But this has been one of my most, I've just, when we met last time we just laughed and 326 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:28,480 laughed and I loved it. 327 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:31,960 So I really enjoyed it and I think people will find you the same. 328 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,000 They'll find you very approachable if they come and meet you and everything. 329 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,440 And I think you're going to go from strength to strength. 330 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,880 Do you have plans for the future to grow, go into other towns? 331 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:46,000 I think what we have done over the last three years that we've been up and at the beginning 332 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:47,000 you said four years. 333 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:48,000 What I did say four, yeah. 334 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:49,000 I thought it was four. 335 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,000 Technically we did have the keys four years, didn't we? 336 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:52,000 Okay. 337 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:53,480 But we did, we spent nearly four months renovating. 338 00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:54,480 Oh, okay. 339 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:58,520 And again, because we did everything ourselves, so it took us a little bit longer to... 340 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:00,240 You should have corrected me. 341 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,720 No, that would have been rude. 342 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:10,120 So we've been up and now for three years and in those three years, despite the expertise 343 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:15,920 and the level of knowledge that we had previously, we'd never operated a business as such, have 344 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:16,920 we? 345 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:17,920 Yeah. 346 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:18,920 And there's two aspects. 347 00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:23,080 We have to obviously, yes, we at first and foremost are a funeral service, but at the 348 00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,480 same time we're also trying to operate a business. 349 00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:29,000 We have to make a living, otherwise we're not going to be able to look after families 350 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:30,200 in five years time. 351 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,720 So we've been learning business, haven't we? 352 00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:33,720 Yeah. 353 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:38,120 And we've been, I don't think perfecting is the right word because we never attain perfection. 354 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:39,120 I think we'll always learn, right? 355 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:40,120 Yeah. 356 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:41,120 We'll always continue to learn. 357 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:45,040 Yeah, we've been trying different things and trying to understand how we can do things 358 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:46,120 better. 359 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:49,160 We have a mantra that you are only as good as your last funeral. 360 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:50,160 We're very critical. 361 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:53,320 We analyse all aspects of what we do, don't we, all the time. 362 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:59,120 And we're only just getting to a point where we can say we've got things that are almost, 363 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:00,720 almost where we want them to be. 364 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:06,760 And once we've done that, then, yes, I'm sure we'll look at other towns and see if we can 365 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:08,480 help other families in those areas. 366 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:09,480 Yeah. 367 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,160 Because I suppose if you did that, you'd want to make sure that you could maintain the most 368 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:14,800 important thing, which is that personal touch. 369 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:18,640 And if you grow and grow sometimes, unfortunately, that can be lost, can't it? 370 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:19,640 Yeah. 371 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:25,840 And also, the people that we bring into our business to help us provide our service, we 372 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,440 treat them as a member of our family as well. 373 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:33,920 And it's really important that they have the same approach and values to other people. 374 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:37,360 Unfortunately, like everything in the world, people have become very self-centred. 375 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:42,280 And there's a lot of people that believe that they want to work in the funeral service because 376 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:45,880 they can stand in front of the hearse and have a top hat and a big stake and things like 377 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:46,880 that. 378 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:48,880 And that's at least 5% of what we do, isn't it? 379 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:50,760 They don't need to work in a funeral service to do that. 380 00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:51,760 They could just do it anyway. 381 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,760 I have maintained and I do honestly believe this. 382 00:29:55,760 --> 00:30:00,600 I could take anybody off the street and within two weeks I could teach them to conduct a 383 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,960 funeral because that's the easy bit. 384 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:08,240 What you cannot teach them is the 30 years of experience that we've got that brought 385 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:10,040 us to this point. 386 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:13,800 The term Funeral Director is a term that is so loosely held now. 387 00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,320 Years gone by, it was a privileged position. 388 00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:20,720 The very term Funeral Director, I think, is a little bit pretentious. 389 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:21,720 Yeah. 390 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:22,880 We're just undertakers. 391 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:25,800 We're undertaking the job that nobody else wanted to do. 392 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:26,800 Is that why? 393 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:28,440 That's why the where the phrase came from. 394 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:29,440 Is it really? 395 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:30,440 I didn't know that. 396 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,760 So much of what we do is still embedded in Victorian tradition. 397 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:36,600 I did not know, but that makes sense. 398 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:38,600 Wow, that's amazing. 399 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,120 I'm going to use that fact. 400 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:47,720 But if you ask 90% of the people that work in the funeral service, one thing that really 401 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:51,680 gets my goat more than anything is the people that say, I'm in the funeral industry. 402 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:53,280 We're not in an industry. 403 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:55,200 We're not manufacturing gears. 404 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:57,640 We're working with people and emotions. 405 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,680 We're working as service. 406 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:04,120 One of the things that really gets my goat is that 90% of the people don't even have 407 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:08,440 the most basic knowledge about what we do or why we do it more importantly. 408 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:16,080 Great example, we take coffins into the church or into the crematorium feet first. 409 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:21,880 It's a Victorian tradition because the Victorians believed that if you did not leave feet first, 410 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:24,640 your spirit would remain in your home. 411 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:26,160 So we still do that now. 412 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:32,040 However, our Hindu Sikh brothers and sisters, they go head first. 413 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:33,040 Why? 414 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:34,040 We enter the world head first. 415 00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:35,040 Wow. 416 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:36,040 So they leave the world head first. 417 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:40,200 So you don't even have to ask that question, you'll just do it anyway to different cultures 418 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:41,200 and religions. 419 00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:42,200 Absolutely. 420 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:43,200 Wow. 421 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:48,480 But there are so many little aspects and nuances that we've picked up over the years. 422 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,720 I can understand why people are fascinated with what we do. 423 00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:53,280 I could talk to you forever. 424 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:55,160 But ultimately, we're just a family. 425 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:56,160 You are. 426 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:57,560 Taking care of your family. 427 00:31:57,560 --> 00:31:58,560 Yeah. 428 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:02,720 And I've really enjoyed this interview and I just want to say thank you for letting me 429 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:04,320 spend some time with you. 430 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:05,880 It's been a privilege, hasn't it? 431 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:08,120 It's been really nice to have you and Matt here. 432 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:09,120 OK, good. 433 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:10,120 I'll tell him. 434 00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:11,120 Thank you very much. 435 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:12,120 Thank you. 436 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:13,120 Thank you. 437 00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:14,120 Thank you. 438 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:38,920 Thank you.