Meet Fiona, funeral arranger at Fosters Rutherglen.

Fiona talks about how she got into the funeral industry, her favourite funeral tradition and her two cats Brenda & Margaret!

What made you choose a career in the funeral sector?

I always had an interest about the funeral profession, and it was actually a death in the family that made me take the leap to join the industry. My amazing grandpa sadly passed away and the care and support we received from the funeral directors was amazing, it was then that I knew that this is what I wanted to do. I had noticed the job come up with Fosters and went for it.

What’s the best part of your role?

I genuinely love all parts of the job! We help families every day and it’s so rewarding being able to give families the support they need. A lot of the time, we’re the first port of call when they walk through the door, and we build a special bond with them through some of the worst times of their life.

Can you give an example of how a family can personalise a funeral?

In this day and age, you can have any kind of funeral you want, there are no restrictions on what you can have. Whatever is personal to that individual we can do our best to make it a reality. For example, we recently had an ‘Only Fools and Horses’ themed funeral for a lovely man which the family named his ‘Only Fools and Hearses’ funeral. Fosters have such a wide range of experience within the company that we’ll know how to make it a reality for families.

What questions do people ask the most?

It’s usually about a cremation and we commonly get families asking us things like ‘does my relative really go in the coffin during the cremation’. This is of course the case, and we explain every detail to the families to make sure they know exactly what’s involved. We also have people that are really curious about the embalming process and what happens behind the scenes with their loved one. Again, we explain everything to our families so they have complete peace of mind when they are arranging a funeral so we can put them at ease with the process.

What role does technology play in a funeral?

Technology plays a massive part in the funeral industry now. This affects a lot of what we do, even the most basic of things like us booking funerals, making order of services and organising the music which is all done online. We have families that come in with pen and paper and we would make sure that all the requests go onto the computer so we can organise their wishes on the right systems.

What’s your favourite funeral tradition?

That’s an interesting one! I’d say seeing a funeral conductor paging in front of the hearse when they’re leading the person to their final place of rest is so symbolic. It’s such an emotional thing to see and it’s carried out so respectfully by all our funeral conductors, they do an amazing job.

Away from work, how do you like to spend your free time?

I spend lots of time with friends and family and my two wee cats, Brenda and Margaret! I also love figure skating and do this regularly, its something I’ve done since I was young, and I really enjoy it. There’s also nothing better than relaxing with one of my favourite boxsets, Grey’s Anatomy!

Thanks for reading. You can learn more about our funeral director services by requesting a brochure, or visit the pre-paid funeral plans section on our website.