Abbey at the heart of the community

We are very proud to have recently become a partner with Tonbridge Angels Football Club and support the amazing work they are doing with disadvantaged young people. Launched by Clair and Jeremy, of Abbotts Group, in April 2021, the ‘Community Trade Partner’ group is an exclusive carefully selected network of trade professionals and specialist service organisations that have come together under the umbrella of Tonbridge Angels Football Club (TAFC) of which Abbey was delighted to be invited to joinThe webpage can be viewed via this link: https://www.tonbridgeangels.co.uk/trade-partnersClair and Jeremy have suggested that every Partner in the network makes a donation…

The pandemic from a Funeral Director’s perspective

It’s been hard and emotional. The first few months, in the first wave we didn’t really know what to expect. Everybody saw the pictures from Italy with mass graves and none of us knew what the UK would look like in the following weeks or months. PPE was hard to get as all manufacturers were gearing up to provide the NHS, rightly so, but it left us very exposed. We had to source PPE from Amazon and eBay at extortionate costs to make sure our staff had the right protection when they were called to bring into our care a…

Who cares for those who care?

  I was recently asked to write an article for the Association of Christian counsellor’s magazine on the subject of caring for people in the immediate aftermath of a death by suicide. I concluded the article with a paragraph devoted to the way in which a death by suicide frequently affects funeral staff who are supporting the grieving family. This has led me to consider the other ways in which those who work in the funeral sector become vulnerable in terms of their own mental health.  The general public rarely perceive funeral directors and their staff to be first responders,…

Glastonbury, but not for the music.

Quite recently, Abbey directors, Chris and Jim Parker, embarked on a short “staycation” through Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Hampshire. A real bucket list holiday which include some of the places they had wanted to go to, but never quite made it. On the list was Port Isaac to hear the fisherman’s choir, the Eden project and lunch in a Rick Stein restaurant in Padstow. While they were planning their route they decided to go across county through Wiltshire to Somerset, where they made their first stop in Glastonbury, much to the delight of their grandchildren who all assumed they were…

Our response to the CMA’s funeral markets study.

Having read this report my initial thoughts are that the independent sector was not properly represented in this report. Independent Funeral Directors are responsible for carrying out around 60% of funerals in the UK and, thus, represent a substantial part of the profession. Abbey Funeral Services Ltd is a small to medium sized business. This business was set up by my husband and I thirty-five years ago and having in the past employed both of my late parents, now also employs our eldest daughter in a senior role. Our hope is that in the future the business may provide employment…

First Inspector of Funeral Directors appointed in Scotland

We were delighted when it was announced that the first government-appointed Inspector of Funeral Directors in Scotland was to be a woman. A clear indication of how far women have come in the profession in the last thirty years or so. Funeral directors have welcomed Ms McKail’s appointment to the role, which will see her conduct an 18-month review of the profession and advise on potential regulations, will help “shape the future” for funeral professionals and the members of the public they serve. The National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF), said their members “overwhelmingly supported” the introduction of…

Why should my business be dementia friendly?

Why would a Funeral business want or need to be dementia friendly? The best way to answer that is to describe three recent funeral arrangements, all of which involved a person living with dementia. The first example was an elderly lady who asked us to arrange her husband’s funeral. He had died in a care home from dementia. The lady, let’s call her Joan, was as grief stricken as any other new widow that I have worked with in over 30 years as a funeral professional. However she had an additional burden in that she had been parted for many…

Social Media And The Press To The Rescue.

Love it or hate it, social media is here and it’s here to stay.

Dont leave it until it’s too late!

  For the last year I have been leading a group of amazing people in Tonbridge who are all committed to making our community one which is dementia friendly. I am passionate about the subject having had a great deal of contact with people who are living with dementia. I had two Aunts and an Uncle who all had dementia and so I witnessed at first hand the difficulties that confronted both them and my cousins as they cared for them. I began my working life as a nurse, working in both of our local hospitals, Pembury and Kent and…

The future of alternative memorials

The future of alternative memorials Cremation is becoming increasingly common in the UK with over 70% of us now choosing this option. The practice of cremation is often undertaken for religious or cultural reasons, but its increasing popularity could also be seen as a result of its comparative cost effectiveness to burial. When opting for cremation, you will be asked what you would like done with your ashes – a difficult question and one with many options. Some of the more well-known choices include burying the ashes in your local cemetery, scattering them, or simply having them displayed in an…