by Louise Cairns

Created on: November 09, 2009

Having unfortunately needed the services of the Co-op Funeral Home almost 12 months ago after my mum died, I can only rate the Co-op funeral services extremely highly. Their professionalism at such a difficult time was second to none. They were polite and courteous from beginning to end and did everything they possibly could to ensure the burial went smoothly.

I was surprised to find that not only did they arrange the funeral services at the church and at the cemetery, but they also arranged the wake and the catering after the funeral if required. Plus they arranged any flowers that are required or donations.

They never tried to sell extra services, they were quite happy to accept that funeral cars weren't required and only the hearse was hired, they didn't try to push anything that wasn't wanted, which is quite unusual. Unfortunately many companies will take advantage of people when they are grieving to push them into buying services they don't really require.

One the evening before the funeral they brought my mum's coffin to the church, so she could rest in the the church the night before. The priest performed a small service at the time, and my daughter made a small speech. The members of the Co-op funeral care staff were very discreet throughout, and arranged all the flowers around the coffin. After the service the undertaker in charge also made my daughter feel better by saying what a good job she'd done during her speech. And at 8 years old, a small things like that can make a huge difference.

On the day of the funeral itself, again the staff made a discreet appearance at the service. And when it came time to move from the church to the cemetery they made the move without a hitch.

As people were using their own cars, they gave everyone a sticker to put in the windscreen of their cars to let other drivers know they were in a funeral possession. This stopped other drivers 'cutting in' between the cars, and even though everyone knew the route from the church to the cemetery, it was just an extra courtesy that helped the day run as smoothly as possible.

After the service at the graveside we moved onto the wake, and all the arrangements had been made perfectly, photographs which had been given to the funeral director in advance were all set out on the tables, and again this all went off without a hitch, which is quite important when people are so upset.

I can't fault them at all. From start to finish they were courteous, discreet and very professional.

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