When funerals are a friendly family affair

We wake up every morning and usually feel fine, apart from the woeful aches and pains that generally arrive with old age.

But at a time few of us can possibly know, one fateful day all of us will have to shrug off this mortal coil.

Though we rarely discuss it while we're able to, the (relatively speaking at least) pomp and circumstance that comes after our death with our own funeral arrangements is something that concerns many of us.

Will anyone actually turn up at the ceremony? What sort of music will be played? Who will organise the funeral procession?

That's why it's fine to involve the professionals. We have a genuine choice of funeral companies in and around Tettenhall, including the newest addition: M. Jackson & Son. (Though really, as it's a proper family business, it should be M. Jackson, wife and son!)

Run by Mark Jackson it is a real family affair and all the better for it.

The smart new offices on the Wergs Road, next to the Crown Pub, come complete with a tasteful reception and Chapel of Rest, with plenty of car parking at the front.

What's more, the former car garage building has been extensively refurbished beyond all recognition to embrace a cluster of almost funereal 'one stop shop' businesses including the funeral directors themselves, the Flower Shop @ Home (a superb specialist florists) and, opening soon, a new branch of an existing firm of local solicitors.

If you have ever had to organise a funeral, you'll know that it takes a very special type of person to run a funeral business, and the family at M. Jackson & Son are certainly no exception to that rule.

"I've been involved in this line of work on and off from the tender age of fifteen when my dad ran a funeral firm in Penkridge, and today it is still something I and my wife Debbie get great satisfaction from," says managing director Mark Jackson.

"The hope is that my own son Ryan will also want to run the business in the distant future, although our daughter Beth wants to go in a quite different direction and train to become a baker."

The fledgling funeral business has applied to join the Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (S.A.I.F) which will allow the Jacksons to offer independently controlled, ring-fenced funeral pre-payment plans for clients who are minded to save for that fateful day.

The new business caters f0r many types of funeral arrangements – from religious to atheistic – and, adds Mark: "At each and every funeral we make a genuine donation of £50 to the charity of people's choice."

While we are on the topic of taboo subjects, as you might expect coffins come in roughly the same shapes but many different sizes and finishes, from the simplest to the most expensive - with prices from as little as £250 to many thousands for a bespoke coffin. Interestingly, there is no VAT to pay either as funerals are exempt.

Headstones, memorials and plaques can also be arranged through the company.

One very recent Italian Catholic funeral in Wolverhampton even involved the use of seven beautiful black horses in all their great finery, while can make use of the quirky but quite splendid funeral sidecar and motorbike if that is the preference (and there's a choice of bikes!).

You can call into the business by arrangement at any time to view the premises during normal working hours at 81 Wergs Road, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton, WV6 9BP.

They can also be contacted by phoning 01902 751 111 24 hours a day, by emailing jacksonandson@gmx.com, or by visiting the here.

See the original post at Tettenhall.co.uk.