In the short time I have been interviewing local businesses for the Arch Publication Podcast I have met so many interesting people. I believe everyone has a story to tell, and I really enjoy finding out about their journeys and passions as local business owners. In this episode I interviewed Jason and Abi, the owners at Larvin and Clegg Funeral Care; a couple who really love their jobs.
Jason was 14 years old when he told his teachers during a career event that he wanted to be an undertaker, although he was much younger when he first decided this was his ideal job. He grew up in hilly rural West Yorkshire and was interested in nature; he always had a jam jar in his pocket to catch grasshoppers and ladybirds. He would head out with his friends in search of living things to investigate. One of the best places was graveyards, very often untouched for decades, filled with wild flowers and long grass; the perfect place to find unusual little creatures. He started to notice the large lumps of stone and became fascinated with what they marked beneath the surface. He also recalls being five years old and out walking with his mum when she insisted they stop to bow their heads as a funeral cortege passed by. The slow, solemn and respectful convoy of vehicles had an impact on him and he knew this was what he wanted to do.
After he left school he wrote to all the local funeral directors asking for an opportunity, but in those days most of them were generational family businesses and didn’t recruit externally, so he found it very difficult. Deciding to change his direction and train as an embalmer when he was 21, he managed to get a work placement at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary within the mortuary. Following on from this experience he still struggled to get that first opportunity; however, he never gave up and after some time managed to get his break within a family run funeral service, where he completed his apprenticeship and finally became an undertaker.
Abi’s career was very different. She
trained to be a beauty therapist then spent time working in the industry. After a while she wanted to do something completely different and was offered an opportunity at a funeral directors. She was able to use her skills when caring for the deceased, doing their hair and makeup and dressing them in their own clothes, so they are ready for their loved ones to say their goodbyes.
After a long time working for corporate funeral firms, the couple decided to set up their own company. They both had a separate set of skills which when united made them the perfect team. Abi is very organised and is an experienced manager. Jason is a qualified undertaker and embalmer, and they both have sensitivity and understanding, which is essential when arranging the funerals with the families or friends of the deceased.
They are a family business through and through. Abi’s dad drives the hearse, and his cousin is a coffin bearer. Both Jason and Abi agree their line of work is not a job. It is not a career; it is a way of life. Their services are needed 24/7, 365 days a year, they are ready to be there for families on Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, Easter and in the middle of the night. Jason tells me that over the years there have been many times his Christmas dinner has been microwaved because they have been called and informed of a passing, because no matter what they are doing they put the families they deal with first.
