Coping with bereavement: These four funeral directors are here to help

(Image: Cornwall Hospice Care)

Cornwall Hospice Care provide a range of free bereavement services across Cornwall. These services are for all adults across the county not just for those that have lost their loved ones at their hospices. 

They offer:

• Bereavement Help Points - These are a monthly drop-in space for anyone who has been bereaved. These relaxed and supportive groups are a welcoming environment for conversations, peer support, signposting and refreshments.
• Walk Talk Kernow - Each Walk Talk Kernow session supports social connections with others who are also experiencing grief, whilst you enjoy the fresh air and nature around you. These one-to-two-mile walks take place in different locations across Cornwall.
• Listening Ear Service - This Bereavement Support by telephone is not a counselling service, we are able to offer free information, support and signposting via the telephone for six calls of up to an hour each.

Visit the Cornwall Hospice Care website for dates and locations for Help Points and Walk Talk Kernow. 

You can self-refer for the Listening Ear Service– call on 01726 829874 or email communityservices@cornwallhospice.co.uk – one of the Cornwall Hospice Care team will answer your call or email to find out more about you and ensure this is the right service for you and work with you to arrange the support calls at a time to suit you."

Wedlake Funeral Home

(Image: Wedlake Funeral Home)

A traditional funeral home, based in Mid Cornwall; since Fitzroy Wedlake set up the funeral business in 1921 it has offered all the traditional services of a funeral director, burials, cremations, hearse, limousines, horse drawn hearse, alternative coffins, anything to help bereaved families. This includes the recent desire for Direct Cremations, where there are no mourners present or service. At £995, which is less than 25% of the average cost of a funeral in England, includes the cost of cremation, a wooden coffin and our professional fees.

A Direct Cremation costing £995 is for those who would like a simpler choice for their funeral without compromising on high standards of care. Brought to the public’s attention by both David Bowie, novelist Anita Brookner and a large TV campaign by a national provider.  A Direct Cremation differs from a traditional funeral in the way that there are no mourners present at the cremation. The popularity partially stems from more people opting for celebratory gatherings, rather than a more traditional funeral service.

Caution should be taken when using a national company for what is one of the most important things you will ever do for your loved one.  Families find themselves dealing with someone over the phone, rather than being able to sit in your own home having a face-to-face meeting with a genuinely local professional funeral director.  Both Nick and David will spend as long with you as it takes to take you through what is already an incredibly upsetting process.

What most national chains also omit from their advertising is that their cremations do not necessarily happen locally, with some transporting the deceased from their home in Cornwall as far afield as Andover in Hampshire. 

Your loved one will rest in our purpose built Chapel of Rest, in Mid Cornwall until the day of the cremation. When unlike many other funeral directors, the deceased person is transported to a Crematorium in Cornwall in our hearse, with one of our funeral directors.  On arrival at the crematorium, your loved one’s coffin will be rested on the catafalque while gentle music is played.  We bow respectfully as the curtains close.  After the cremation we collect the ashes from the crematorium and arrange to return them to you.  

Wedlake Funeral Home have been looking after families in Cornwall since 1921 and in that time have embraced the changing nature of funerals.  We still continue to offer the whole variety of bespoke funerals, if your wish is to make that final journey in a motorbike hearse, a horsedrawn hearse or even a VW campervan hearse, we will arrange it.  If you wish to have a wicker coffin, a picture coffin, or an American casket, just ask and we will sort it.   Since 2018 Wedlake Funeral Home’s clients have been looked after by Nick Jago and David Michael who are offering all their services to people right across Cornwall. 

For many who choose a Direct Cremation the decision is not driven by price. For many not including a service, it gives families the chance to remember their loved one in their own way at a location of their choosing. Whether that be through a memorial service, a family get together or scattering the ashes at a place they loved.  David and Nick can be contacted at Wedlake Funeral Home 24 hours a day on 01726 850216. 

Penryn and Falmouth Funeral Directors

(Image: Penryn and Falmouth Funeral Directors)

We have been looking after the funeral needs of the people of Penryn, Falmouth and the surrounding areas for many years. We are large enough to provide you with an all-round professional service to suit your needs and small enough to really care.

The hours and days after someone dies can be bewildering and confusing, and people cope with the loss of a family member or friend in different ways. You may feel that there is pressure to make the arrangements for a funeral service quickly, and indeed some find it helpful to keep busy, but in reality, time is on your side, and there is no rush to make these important decisions.  We will do everything we possibly can to help you through them, and to take away the stress that can accompany the things that need to be done as you grieve for your loss.

We will be here to gently guide you through each step, making sure that you have the space to make the right choices for you and your family, and to take away the pressure and worry that may come when dealing with these final, and most important things.

We understand that arranging a funeral is the last thing you will do for your loved one, and we will help you to create a fitting and personal tribute that expresses something of the unique and special life of the person who is so precious to you. 

By ringing us first we can talk you through the things that need to be put in place straight away, and by leaving them in our capable hands it can put your mind at rest and give you space to think about more personal things. With many years of professional experience and by drawing on our expertise you can be sure that by allowing us to help you, you will receive a considerate and personal service of the highest quality, taking away much of the worry at this most difficult time. 

It is always a privilege for us to be chosen to arrange a funeral service, and we will give your loved one and your family the utmost care and consideration from the very first call until after the funeral service. 

We are there as a friend by your side in your time of need.

Kingsley Tresidder Funeral Directors

(Image: Kingsley Tresidder)

Its roots going back more than 150 years, it was in the mid 70's that Kingsley Tresidder began assisting his father Len. He officially joined the business in 1981 before taking over in 1986 with his wife Sandra. In the early 2010s they were joined in the business by their daughter, Julie, and son, Steven, making it a third generation family business. Both Julie and Steven share the same values and commitment to providing the unique friendly and personal service for which the business is renowned.

Although the business has always been based in Ponsanooth, it now covers a wide area as it has continued the excellent reputation of its predecessors and established it's own distinct identity. 

Unfortunately, in November 2022 we lost our husband and father, Kingsley. This has marked a poignant new chapter for Kingsley Tresidder Funeral Service with the baton now being passed to Sandra, Julie and Steven, all of whom remain committed to providing the support and care that has always been a defining aspect of our business.

We are members of the National Association of Funeral Directors and are committed to upholding the association’s code of conduct and core values. Julie holds their Diploma in Funeral Arranging and Administration and has recently passed her Diploma in Funeral Directing, the same qualification that was held by Kingsley.

A full range of services is offered including floral tributes and Pre-Payment Plans as well as a 24 hour service.

For more information go to www.kingsleytresidderfuneralservices.co.uk