Lancing funeral director explains the challenges faced during lockdown

But social distancing has made it much more difficult for people who have lost a loved one to find comfort by coming together.

Henry King, who set up H.G.King Funeral Services in Lancing’s North Road three years ago, when he was just 23, said seeing the impact on bereaved families was the ‘toughest part’ of lockdown.

“The grieving process is different,” he said. “The fact they can’t even see them in some cases to say goodbye.”

Mr King has had to change the way he interacts with his clients, contacting them by phone or video call instead of visiting them at home, which he said was difficult considering that part of the job was ‘to be a bereavement counsellor of sorts’.

“We are limiting the contact with clients, it’s hard to show empathy with families,” he said. “You want to put your arms around them and give them a hug, but you can’t do that.”

Mr King said he had dealt with some suspected cases of the coronavirus so far, but no confirmed cases.

Despite this, he and others were wearing personal protective equipment at all times when visiting care homes or private addresses.

When it comes to funeral services, the number of people attending has had to be limited, but Mr King said there were no fixed restrictions in place, meaning each local authority across the country was doing something slightly different.

Brighton crematorium has capped the number of mourners at 12, while Worthing crematorium had limited attendance to ‘immediate family only’.

Meanwhile some places in the country were not permitting services to be held at all.

Mr King said it was ‘really hard’ to have to tell people that certain members of the family could not attend the funeral service.

In some cases, friends who had known the deceased person for 50 years or more could not be invited.

Due to the smaller number of mourners, some services being held were shorter, and Mr King said: “It’s more of a goodbye, rather than a celebration of life.”

However, he said they had adapted by offering a live streaming service for funerals, so people that unable to be there in person could still feel part of it.

Mr King said they were trying to offer a normal service ‘as best we can’, with loved ones still able to choose their own music for funerals and make other personal touches.

Some people were opting to have a celebration of life for the deceased person sometime in the future once the lockdown has eased, he said.

But other needed to have closure, he said, adding: “People don’t want to wait to say goodbye.”

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