A family-run funeral service in Felixstowe is preparing to open its doors on Saturday – and hopes that it will be serving the community for many generations to come.
Run by Luke Smith and his wife, Victoria, Smith Family Independent Funeral Directors in Undercliff Road will open for business this weekend.
Mr Smith explained that he felt compelled to become a funeral director after losing his grandmother.
“I find great comfort in helping people,” he explained. “I treat people's loved ones as our family - we use loved ones' names, not a number.
“The costs of funerals are getting very high, and people are struggling to pay them.
"So, we decided that it was enough, and everyone should be able to say goodbye to their loved one and not break the bank.”
Helping people in their time of grief has been handed down through the Smith family for many years.
“My great-grandfather was an undertaker over 120 years ago,” said Mr Smith proudly. “There have been stories told of him handmaking the coffins for his funeral home.
“I don't know much about him, however my nan has just given me the bowler hat he used to wear. It’s over 100 years old and is on display in our funeral home today."
Reverend Andrew Dotchin is the vicar of St John the Baptist and St Edmund’s King and Martyr churches in Felixstowe.
He said: “It’s too easy for all that is associated with death and dying to be seen as a functional transaction. To have funeral directors like Luke who come in and care for the deceased and those who are bereaved in their moments of extreme crisis and uncertainty is a very great thing."
An open day will be taking place on Saturday, October 21, from 10am to 2pm at 14 Undercliff Road West.
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