A long-standing Nottinghamshire funeral firm partner is keeping things in the family after three decades of loyal service helping loved ones say their last goodbyes.
Joanne Hutsby, a partner in Gillotts Family Funeral Directors – which has branches in Stapleford, Eastwood, Kimberley, Selston and Heanor – has celebrated her 30-year anniversary at the firm.
Joanne is taking on the mantle of parents Barry and Elaine who ran Eastwood and District Funeral Service. In 1992 that firm merged with another family business, Gillotts in Heanor, before the Gillotts name then expanded to all five branches of the business 10 years ago.
Joanne has been involved in the business for longer than that having moved with her family into the flat above the Eastwood premises aged 11.
Joanne said: “Family life, honestly, was probably quite unusual, although I didn’t really question it at the time! The majority of the time my mum and dad were on call 24 hours a day. There was a phone that we were not allowed to answer. If it rang, it was because someone needed mum or dad because there had been a death. I just accepted it as normal.”
Joanne worked in the family business during school holidays from the age of 16 and when other career options did not appeal while she was at university, she consulted her parents and decided to join full time on graduating.
Her first job was at Gillotts’ Stapleford office, following the retirement of a member of staff there, and she began to find her feet in the funeral business aged just 21. After around 10 years at Stapleford, Joanne became a partner in the business, moving to Eastwood where the activities for the whole firm are co-ordinated, in order to take on more responsibility.
In the mid-90s Joanne stood out not just for her youth but for being a woman in a very male-dominated industry.
She said: “There were very few females in the business at that time. Quite regularly when you arrived people would go: ‘Oh, it’s a woman’. The Church of England had only just voted to allow women vicars, but I can’t remember there being any around. Now we have probably more women than men as either ministers or celebrants, and the majority of our staff are female.”
Back when Joanne started, funerals were a far more perfunctory affair. Crematoria operated strict half hour slots and it was normal for a funeral to take place within a week of a death.
She said: “Funerals were very functional. There was so little of what we do now. You had 20 minutes and then you had to be out of the door. There was no personal music, no photos. It was kept simple.
“Technology has allowed us to offer different things. Colour printers meant people could put a picture on the service sheet for the first time. More music just gradually crept in. People got ideas from going to other funerals. We started to say: ‘You don’t have to have it like this, you can have it like this’. People started to want something different.”
Over the years, Joanne has directed thousands of funerals, averaging out at around three or four a week. A crematorium funeral now lasts an hour, giving families more time to gather together and remember those who have gone.
She has helped families with many unusual requests over the years, including arranging a funeral at Ilkeston Town Football Club. These days many people opt for less traditional vehicles with a Land Rover hearse now a popular choice. Routes are now often highly bespoke with families asking for certain check points to be included, such as the house where someone was born.
A funeral director’s job can be emotional: sudden deaths at work or the loss of a child leave families understandably heartbroken. To cope, Joanne said she tries to ensure she keeps work and home life separate, focusing on practicalities on the tougher days.
And while times have changed and funerals have taken on far more personality than they used to, some things remain the same. Families still need warmth, compassion and a professional approach when experiencing the trauma of bereavement.
Joanne said: “Those little touches you can do for someone can really mean so much.
“As a funeral director you’re like the conductor of an orchestra. It’s important for one person to be there making sure everything goes smoothly and happens on time. Every day we aim to do well. I hope we do.”
This press release was produced by Penguin PR. For more information, contact Simon Burch at [email protected] or phone 07735 397888.
