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Crabtree and Son
Address: 41, Station Road, Drighlington, West Yorkshire, BD11 1JU and 124, Street Lane, Gildersome, Morley, West Yorkshire, LS27 7JB
Phone: Drighlington 0113 2852650 : Gildersome 0113 2525243 Email: peter@crabtreeandson.co.uk Web: www.crabtreeandson.co.uk
Funeral Director/s: Peter Crabtree learned the business from his father Mervyn, a traditional joiner and undertaker. Says Peter, “He put a great deal of effort into joinery and made a success of the business whilst maintaining the undertaking at the same time. My father never advertised and did funerals as and when they came along through word of mouth and always did a first class job.” Peter did not go straight into the business, though. After school he went into the catering industry, front-of-house, and travelled Europe for 2 years. Then he came home, served his apprenticeship as a joiner, and joined the family funeral business, which he has been building up for the last 5 years. Peter is now in charge, and the business is very much a one-man band. The Crabtrees are well known in their local area. Mervyn, in his retirement, is much involved in the local community and took part in the campaign to save the local school. When Peter is not working, he likes nothing more than a good meal in a good restaurant with good friends. He enjoys the theatre and music. He runs most mornings, and enjoys skiing and snowboarding. Like many of the best funeral directors Peter has no formal qualifications. He says: “If I had more time, I would definitely do the course and maybe I will one day. However, my education in the ‘university of life’ has always done me well. Funeral directing to me is not something you can learn by sitting an exam, it is something that comes naturally with working in and around people. I have few qualifications, so what! I have passion, drive, motivation and oodles of common sense, which I think counts for a lot.” Quite so. Peter’s clients certainly think the same.
Specific Gravity: In an area which likes things done traditionally, Peter is a traditionalist with a twist. For most funerals he wears ceremonial morning suit and top hat, but with a red tie and handkerchief. Very smart he looks, too – “the smartest around,” they say. He is willing to adapt to anything you want, very much seeing a funeral as a celebration of life. Peter likes to do things properly. He says, “I always shoulder the coffin into the church/crematorium (where doorways allow!), I don’t like the use of a trolley, it looks undignified to me.” Speaking very much as a Yorkshireman he adds, “I like to make the bearers earn their money!” Peter’s vehicles are top of the range Mercedes. Very willing to use a less showy vehicle if you wish, and to adapt arrangements to suit you. He says, “I work for the client, and their wishes are paramount. I will organise any type of funeral they like because it’s all about them, therefore I don’t think there are any lines I wouldn’t cross unless something was deemed to be too inappropriate or damaging to my business.”
What’s important? For Peter, attention to detail is the most important thing of all – “getting things right for the family.” He is aware that funeral directors can easily get complacent and he’s not going to let that happen to him. He holds himself to the highest standards. He says, “A funeral is unique, unique to that family and cannot be repeated. I have the opinion that everything about a funeral must be 110% spot on, to the finest detail.” He adds, “I do this job because I am good at it. If I can make things just a little bit easier for families at such a sad time in their lives, then it’s all been worthwhile for me. Even though the funeral itself is important, the care and attention shown to families before and after the ‘big day’ in a way, is so much more significant.”
What’s different? In a nutshell, nothing is too much trouble. Peter regularly gives people stuck for transport a lift to the funeral home or takes them to the registrar. He is known for treating people as they want to be treated. He doesn’t want to come across as stiff and starchy but if you want him to keep his distance, he’ll do that. He’s very down to earth and many of his clients become good friends. He regularly calls in on those who would appreciate it to have a cuppa and make sure they’re all right in the run-up to the funeral and also in the period after it. Peter says: “It is very important from the off, that people are at ease with me and know that they are in good hands. They are always confident that I am going to do a good job for them.”
Services: Your call will be answered by Peter or Mervyn, Peter most likely, day or night. One or other of them will see the whole thing through with you. No arrangers here. Same-sex person to wash and lay out the body if you wish. Yes to home visit, and most want this. Rarely recommends embalming unless really necessary, “another cost which can be avoided.” Very happy for you to come in and lay out and dress the person who has died if you wish. In this multi-racial area, all cultural and religious customs are catered for "with the same respect and consideration". Happy to work with home funeralists: “I am happy to do as much or as little as they want me to do.” Good secular celebrants on their books including an excellent humanist, David Jennings. Nicely done out premises, welcoming and not gloomy, and all Peter’s handiwork. Plenty of parking outside both branches, and everything is on the same level.
Remarks: In addition to excellent service, Peter Crabtree offers you very good value for money. This is all in keeping with Peter’s own philosophy, which may well be your own. Peter sums it up: “We offer good value and because of our size we are much cheaper than most funeral directors in the area. I am very conscious of price and always try and keep costs low, mainly because I am frugal myself and also don’t believe in taking advantage of vulnerable people.” This is what one client thinks: "From the start the service and care I received was better than I could have hoped for. Peter was exceptional in his care, spending as much time with us as we needed, he spent the time listening to us and helping us come to the arrangements we all wanted. He helped with arranging a Humanist celebrant and flowers, giving advice when we were floundering but never taking over, so at all times we felt everything was our choice. I would recommend Crabtree and Son without any hesitation, their service is first class and very personal and made our sad time so much easier."
There are 2 comments about Crabtree and Son
Marie Menic said...
I have just buried my father and Peter dealt with the funeral arrangements from start to finish.He is a professional and helped make a difficult time less painful.A lovely caring man who understood our needs and nothing was too much trouble.
Harry and Dinah Cooke said...
We lost our Mum in January 2012 and, being her eldest son, Next of Kin and executor, I had to make a decision about who handled the funeral arrangements. Previous experience in 2006 when our Dad passed away was that he had arranged a pre-paid plan with a large National funeral cooperative. The arrangements which were made were impersonal and difficult plus there were a couple of unnecessary problems both during and after the funeral which could have been avoided with a little more personal care by the Funeral Director.
For this reason I decided to choose a local Funeral Director and contacted Crabtree & Son by telephone. Peter Crabtree immediately put us at ease and it was clear that he was someone who would be able to make things easier for the family, particularly as quite a number of the family lived away from the Morley area. One of Peter Crabtree’s attributes is his ability to “get things right for the family” and his personal touch was very, very reassuring to us all. Nothing was too much for Peter and he arranged to meet us on a number of occasions at various places of our choice entirely at our convenience. He also gave us some very useful advice with the fine detail of the service which was invaluable for as Peter quite rightly says, “A funeral is unique, unique to that family and cannot be repeated.” Mum requested a “non-religious service” so Peter arranged a meeting with Humanist Minister Bob Bury who also provided a great deal of advice so that the ceremony could be close and personal as Mum had wanted.
The day came along and everything was handled perfectly, Bob got the tone of the service just right and everything fitted perfectly with what Mum had asked for.
The Cooke family are, and were, more than happy with all the arrangements and would like to thank Peter Crabtree for that – it was really nice that a local family firm was involved and I am sure our parents would have been delighted that things were taken care of impeccably by Crabtree and Son from Drighlington, where Mum & Dad had lived for a great deal of their lives.
We are more than happy to recommend Crabtree & Son to anyone.