3 minute read
Trade Secrets
David Albery
Albery and Redstone Funeral Directors
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Where are you based and how long have you been in business?
We are based in Okehampton, the business was founded in 1850 in South Zeal, we moved to its current location in East Street in 2014.
Can you explain about your name?
In 2015 I purchased the family funeral business of Redstone Funeral Services, to run alongside my independent company ‘Okehampton & District Funeral Service’ to which we became ‘Incorporating Redstones’ after such time I decided to re-brand the company so the decision was made to put the names together ‘Albery & Redstone’. We are proud to be the only Independent Family Funeral Service in Okehampton. So it is not a partnership, I am a sole trader.
People would assume your job is quite sad dealing with death. Is this a harsh description?
This is a very common assumption, indeed we look after the departed, and care for the bereaved at their most desperate hour, but our time is taken up most with caring for those left behind, and each day is a privilege, I am always very humbled when a family entrust their loved one into my care, it is a great duty and an honour, but it isn’t all sadness. Yes there are sad times, and tragic times, you must always have empathy to their needs, but there is also so much love, laughter and also celebration for a life lived long and well.
Being able to fulfil a family’s request to lay their loved one to rest must be rewarding as well. Is that true?
This has to be in my opinion one of the most rewarding professions, to be able to do the last thing I can do for someone is a unique privilege. It is always so wonderful to receive a thank you card from a family in the midst of what they are going through. They will remember what I have done for them forever, we play a very special part in their lives for a short space of time, and I will do whatever I can to make it as easy as possible for them.
Have there been any examples of requests that have been unique?
Funerals can take many forms these days from the very traditional to the most alternative. Providing it is legal and dignified, we are only limited by our imagination. Just the other day we took a gentleman to church in an immaculate vintage 1965 Moggy Traveller Hearse, we hired this in at the request of the family. I have also conducted services where the coffin has been conveyed to church by tractor and trailer, horse and carriage, VW Campervan Hearse to name but a few. I have conducted funeral services in families gardens, followed by burial on their own land,
held ceremonies in barns, farm buildings and in ‘Woodland burial grounds’.
How long do you have to train to become a funeral director?
No amount of theoretical training will totally prepare you to be a funeral director, it comes down to years of dedicated practical service to the profession, also life experiences moulds and shapes you along the way. I have had the privilege of being in the funeral profession for 25 years and I am still learning, as the years go on, EDSTONE the profession changes and you need to adapt to meet the expectations of our ALBERY & REDSTONE clients today. This is a vocation, it is a way of life, it certainly would not suit everybody, being on call 24/7, getting called out of bed to attend a loved one a 3am, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I Funeral Directors Established 1850 ALBERY & REDSTONE Funeral Directors love what I do. Established 1850
ALBERY & REDSTONE
Funeral Directors Established 1850 Independent Funeral Directors Established for Five Generations Okehampton’s only independent funeral service
Traditional and alternative arrangements tailored to your individual requirements 24 Hour personal care of David Albery, Funeral Director • Pre-payment funeral plans available
