We have been busy as a family developing the business. Carl has been leading the way at Hadaway & Denton maintaining high levels of service for our families whilst I have been hiding in the back ground completing administrative tasks and still working full time as a music teacher. We are really proud of our 5-star reviews on Google and also grateful of the thank you cards encouraging us with our work. Side news, I have very recently left teaching in a secondary school as a full time music teacher which will free up more time for us to develop the business collaboratively and support more families. I intend to keep my music going in a few capacities but yet to work it all out.

Why am I telling you this?! Well, we’ve been busy, like most families in our hectic society (definitely another blog post there…), and not posted for a while and many things have been happening! Firstly, we want to share with you that we are now members of SAIF (The National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors) and being affiliated with a governing body means you can perhaps feel more safe and secure in our hands as a newly established business. As you are aware, Carl has been working in the Funeral Industry for many years now both for Independent and briefly for a corporate firm and brings this experience with him but it also means a great deal to us to bring the experience of SAIF to our business. They have a vast breadth of advice and history and were established in 1989. We have to follow their policies and had to have a site inspection to make sure our premises met their standards.

This also now allows us to sell Golden Charter Funeral Plans and, having challenged, myself, the value of these plans with SAIF, can confidently say they are a good purchase for those of us that want to set up payment of our funeral in advance and secure services at today’s costs. They offer security and the growth rate of the plan within the trust is better than most savings accounts nowadays so you can know your money is in a safe place and growing. Even if we go bust (horrible putting it so bluntly but just stating the obvious and a common question!) or SAIF are no more, the money is still safe as the trust is a separate entity to both organisations – your money is not with us until the time of need. Please contact us if you are interested in discussing a plan, either for yourself or for a relative.

In these challenging times of COVID-19 it is difficult to focus on positives but it is necessary to do this to keep going. In terms of the business, we are very grateful for the business we have received in this first 9 month period and grateful for the support from organisations such as SAIF along the way. We pull together as Funeral Directors (in the Independent sector) and work to best serve the community. We are proud to be a part of this community. In terms of family, we are all under challenging circumstances right now and trying to see the positive in each day when we succeed in a little home schooling (no matter how small it is a win!) or when we make time to listen more to each other or when we manage to sort things that have been on the to-do list for too long. 

Thank you to all of those who are supporting us in the funeral industry, to all those friends who are sharing our success and spreading the word, to all of our families we have cared for for your trust in us and sending your gratitude. Through this difficult time, as corny as it sounds, we can all hope for a better tomorrow based on what we are learning today.

Jo x