CONFRONTING grief every day might not sound like an enjoyable job - but for an undertaker passionate about his work it is one of the most rewarding things someone can do.
Chris Wickenden has worked in the trade since 1986 and owns Haven Funeral Services based in Gunnersbury Lane, Acton and Hillingdon.
The 58-year-old already had an insight because his grandfather ran a funeral directors in Ealing from about 1900 to the 1970s. He said: "I trained as a chartered accountant and worked in the city for many years. "I decided to set up a funeral directors because I was fed up of travelling but also because I saw it as a vocation.
"I'm a member of Haven Green Baptist Church and as a Christian you're supposed to love your neighbour and do something for them. It's a business but there is that vocational element.
"Most people arrange a funeral twice in their life, they don't know what to do. When a friend dies you go to the next of kin and say 'is there anything I can do to help?' An undertaker can, we know all the procedures and can help the family make the funeral special.
"That's what makes the job so rewarding, you can actually do something, you don't have to pass to the other side of the street which is often the case because people don't know what to say."
Part of this involves presenting the bereaved with options to help them create the funeral they want, this includes the type of coffin.
Mr Wickenden has recently added a new addition to his range, made out of bamboo, which helps the environmentally-minded feel more comfortable. It was inspired by a year's sabbatical he spent working for the Leprosy Mission in Bangladesh in 2008.
He said: "I met an organisation called Oasis who transform lives by providing people with work. They set up a factory manufacturing bamboo products and I suggested they make coffins. I helped them design it and after a lot of work it is finally available here.
"It's a renewable source, the rate it grows in Bangladesh is unbelievable, it helps absorb Co2 and can be transported flat-packed so large amounts can be moved at once. It might not be something everyone thinks about at that time but there is an increasing interest in green products and now that choice is available to them."
