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Keeping it in the family


Many family funeral firms can last for generations, but sisters Joanne and Alison Hutsby never expected to carry on in their parents’ footsteps - until they realised the business was in their blood. Simon Burch reports.


H


aving grown up living in a flat above their parents’ funeral business in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, it might have


seemed inevitable that one day sisters Joanne and Alison Hutsby would end up working in the firm. Yet for many years, the likelihood of this seemed to be remote. Joanne, the elder of the two, went to university to study history, while Alison was determined that her life lay elsewhere – and, after studying psychology, she went to work in human resources in the public sector. “When we were growing up, because we were


two girls, the assumption was that there wasn’t going to be a next generation of the family taking over the business, so there was never any pressure on us,” says Joanne. “Everything in the business was done by men and it never occurred to us that there would be a role for us anyway. Our parents probably assumed that when they retired, they would sell the business.” But, years later, both sisters would have a change of heart. During her last year at university, Joanne decided she wanted to work in the family business and, on her return, she stepped into run one of the firm’s four funeral homes, which the company operates in four towns on the Derbyshire/ Nottinghamshire border. After running the office for six years, she became one of six funeral directors in the business and is one of four partners in the


58 Farewell Magazine


business, two of whom are her parents, Barry and Elaine. Alison, meanwhile, gave six years of her


working life to the public sector before she also returned, taking a role as office manager at its Eastwood branch. And so the Hutsby sisters’ part in the long


term future of the company was secured, not least because, in common with other people who work in their family’s firm, their hearts are well and truly in the business.


It has long been understood that family-run


firms are highly prized in the funeral business. Even when they have taken over a smaller rival, bigger operators are loathe to change the name if it is a family concern, mindful of how customers believe that a local, family company will give them a friendlier and more personal service. This fact, and the fact that it has a long


history in its town – Eastwood Funeral Partnership can trace its history back to 1867,


PHOTO: Both sisters Joanne and Alison Hutsby


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