An Insightful guide book into the Funeral Industry by Charles Cowling.
Liz -One day last year my mother handed me an article from her 'Oldie' magazine which was about a gentleman called Charles Cowling and his 'Good Funeral Guide' book. Charles was collecting information about independent funeral directors all over England and compiling it ready to print early in 2010. This intrigued me so I contacted him asking what it was all about and his plans for the book. Charles emailed me straight away and aired some of his views about the funeral industry as a whole. I remember saying that after reading , the reasons why he had decided to publish this book were that 'we must have been separated at birth' because we were both striving for exactly the same reasons, 'honesty and fairness'. Charles and I kept in contact and then he came to meet us at our premises in Bedminster.
The 'Good Funeral Guide' is packed with useful information and lists Funeral Directors who have all received a visit in front of house and behind the scenes, by either Charles or members of the public who helped him with all his surveys in order to add companies to his 'The Best Directors' list.
I always smile when I read the reviews as most of the comments are my members of the public who say 'I could not put the book down and read it cover to cover that evening', one person had said that they have actually read it three times!
It gives you an insight into the Funeral Industry and what you should be aware of, with regard to, who actually owns that company! It may look like an independently owned company because of the name above the door but more often than not these assumingly small family owned businesses are actually managed my larger corporations.
Charles and many other funeral directors like ourselves are trying to give members of the public 'choice' and this is difficult when someone dies and the families grief takes over. Many care / nursing homes use one funeral director so while the family are being informed that 'death has occurred' the homes chosen funeral directors are already on their way,! We have found this many times over the years which results in us having to collect the deceased from another company and then bringing them into our care.
We are fortunate enough to have a listing under Best Directors in 'Avon' and we are the only company listed there. I strive for everything Charles is out there trying to do; he's researching factual information and compiling it in such a way that it is easily accessible to us.
His web page 'The Good Funeral Guide' has direct links to many other sites which I feel answers so many questions from 'Find a Funeral Director' to 'Can you trust budget undertakers you find on the internet'? There are links to Citizens Advice with all the information needed for people who are going to really struggle when paying the costs for the funeral.
I cannot list all the topics as there are too many to mention and too many links so please have a read yourselves and allow Charles to give you an insight into his compelling research.
Since we were entered into The Good Funeral Guide my business partner Rachel has left our company so she is no longer with us but I am sure we will be getting another visit from Charles early next year so all our information can be updated.
