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Ian Clarke Funeral Services
Address: 151 Northenden Road, Sale Moor, Cheshire, M33 2HS
Phone: 0161 962 41 41 Email: enquiries@ianclarkefunerals.co.uk Web: www.ianclarkefunerals.co.uk
Funeral Director/s: Ian Clarke, BA, Dip FD (30s). Not a dyed-in-the-wool funeral director. Came to it fresh from the experience of his father-in-law’s funeral: “I was employed in a different industry. The funeral directors that we used at that time were okay but not particularly helpful; they failed to explain much to us and really, looking back, I felt that they did what was best or easiest for them rather than us. I thought that there must be a better way to do it. There is.” Ian is in it to give people the time they need to arrange the funeral they want. His motivation is clear: to help people through a difficult time. He’s personable, unstuffy, courteous; he levels with you and speaks with a gentle Northern Irish brogue. Premises bright and modern and really thoughtfully furnished. In Ian’s words: “No thick red velvet curtains, no plastic flowers, no headstones, nothing tacky.” These premises are shared with Natural Endings, another Good Funeral Guide Best Funeral Director.
Specific Gravity: Ian and his team will happily do old-fashioned if that’s what you want: Victorian frock coat, etc. It’s not a style he’s wedded to, so he’ll happily wear what you want – within reason, of course. Try him.
What’s important? Ian is a very careful listener because he wants to get it right for you. In our opinion he does this better than most. He won’t make you feel that you ought to do things in a particular way just because this is how they have always been done. He will explore your feelings and encourage you to do the same. He says, “I think that people, generally, are more questioning of the whys and wherefores. They are more inclined now to not want something that in the past may have been the accepted norm. I get a lot of ‘Do I have to do that?’ questions – ‘Do I have to follow the hearse?’ ‘Do I have to have the curtains closed?’ ‘Do I have to have a service?’” It’s a tribute to Ian that people ask him these questions.
What’s different? Ian doesn’t come over as an old school funeral director, all hush and awe. He comes across as one of us, a refreshing change. This is what he says about himself: “We are incredibly ‘down to earth’ and flexible. If you want a stuffy ‘Victorian’ funeral director, then we are probably not for you. Yes, we wear formal funeral attire and we go out of our way to be very well presented. However, I believe that I should speak to families in the way that I would want someone else to speak to my family in a similar situation. I want to give people the best advice, not sell them something that they neither need nor want. I will do fairly much anything that a family wants.”
Services: You call will be answered Ian, Rosie or Gary. Just one of these will look after you from start to finish. Will come and make arrangements at your home. Very happy if you’d like to come in and help wash and dress the body. Will very happily work with home funeralists, and has done so. Same sex funeral director to lay out the body if you wish. Not a fan of embalming, but will arrange it if you want. Experienced at working with all ethnic groups, very happy to do so, and that includes pagans!
Remarks: Ian is refreshingly different from how we may expect a funeral director to be. That doesn’t make him a radical, it just makes him easier to talk to - normal. In a city dominated by the funeral conglomerates it’s good to see a young, barnacle-free, independent business offering you both superb personal service and, not in a cut-price way, a smaller bill.
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