In the first of our series of blogs, showroom manager Amy Lamb outlines her working week and explains how there is no such thing as a typical day at Art Stone Memorials.
Monday
It’s a bright Autumnal Monday morning in Stapenhill and, having dropped off my daughter at school, I open up the showroom to start another working week.
I check the answerphone and open up my email inbox to see who has been in touch over the weekend. There are messages from several families requesting an appointment to discuss their wishes and many more asking for a brochure.
Our friendly postman arrives with a stack of mail including a lovely card from a family whose memorial stone was erected last week – thanking us all for our help – and this joins the many others which we gratefully receive.
The next job is to have a virtual meeting with Alex and the team in the Art Stone Memorials workshop to confirm plans for the week and update approvals from families on wording and designs.
I then spend the day progressing orders to the next stage – whether that is approving wording and designs; ordering stone; applying for permits or tracking deliveries to the workshop.
Tuesday
I am thankful that the traffic is pretty light this morning as I have a meeting with a family who lost their daughter six months ago and now feel ready to talk about the memorial they want erecting at her grave. In the vast majority of cemeteries and churchyards, a memorial stone legally cannot be installed until 12 months after a burial to enable the plot to settle so this is a good time to gently start the planning process.
Most people don’t know where to start, so my job is essentially to take all of the worry and stress from their shoulders and ensure everything goes smoothly. It can be a complicated process mainly because as each cemetery has its own regulations. Furthermore, clergy at different churches have their own preferences relating to the size, colour and even wording and illustrations on a memorial stone. It’s therefore vital that I keep totally up to date with these so that a family is not disappointed in any way.
The loss of their daughter is obviously still raw so we spend time talking about her which helps them decide the design and wording on the memorial stone. They also want an image of her to be etched on the granite which we are able to do and I take down all the details so that Alex and the team can draft up a design.
After lunch I head over to the office in Chaddesden which we share with our sister company, Wathall’s. Being down the road from Nottingham Road cemetery, we are particularly busy helping families in this area and I meet up with a brother and sister who want their parents’ marble headstone, originally installed more than 60 years ago, to be restored to its former glory and the plot relevelling so that it can be visited by future generations.
Wednesday
I am in the Stapenhill office all day today and phone does not stop ringing. We are on a busy road with lots of passing footfall and two different families drop in to enquire about cremation plaques. I take down their details and wishes to be able to discuss with the workshop team.
I also have a visit from a fellow dog walker who I often see out with her dog whilst I am walking my cockapoo Angus. I was starting to get concerned that I had not seen her for a few weeks and am sad to discover that her beloved companion has died. She is keen to have a slate memorial in her garden and she chooses a lovely pawprint design with an etched image of him which will be a lasting tribute and bring her a lot of comfort.
Despite it being busy, I am keen to catch the post and need to complete a pile of permits for the Litchfield Diocese with the details of memorials in different church yards.
My last telephone call of the day is to the Wathall’s head office to finalise details of the latest orders for memorial bricks that we handle on their behalf as part of their relationship with Derby County Football Club and the Rams Remembers service at Pride Park Stadium.
Thursday
I start the day by meeting with a local charity who are doing an amazing job providing a community foodbank. I am born and bred in Stapenhill and have worked at the local Coop and at Violet Way school where I also used to be a pupil. It is therefore very important to me and to all my colleagues to support the communities that we serve and I thoroughly enjoy finding out how we can help this charity support as many people as they can.
I then head out with our head stonemason Alex to meet up with representatives of a local parish council who want to have the war memorial in their village restored and cleaned. We talk through the options so that we can provide a quote that will be a focus for their fundraising efforts.
Friday
My greatest satisfaction comes from seeing a project completed and I take a call from an elderly lady who wants to check that the team are erecting the memorial at her husband’s grave today. Like so many families during Covid, she was not able to have the funeral she would have wished and seeing the memorial in place is her chance to honour her husband and gain comfort, so I decide to meet her over at Stapenhill Cemetery to ensure she was OK and give her some moral support.
I always finish the week by ensuring that all the paperwork and files are up to date. With scores of projects on the go at any one time, it is important that I know that everything is progressing on time and that families can be updated.
The last phone call of the day is to confirm a meeting with a family who are coming together for the weekend and have booked an appointment tomorrow morning to finalise the details of a memorial for their beloved nana who will join their grandad in the family grave.
As with all double, or multiple burial plots, the headstone is removed ahead of the funeral, which in this case, is being handled by Wathall’s funeral directors. We store the current memorial safely and the family are coming in to decide whether to add a further inscription or to have a new stone. I have already had a meeting with a couple of members of the family but they are keen that everyone in their extended family has a say in this important decision so I am looking forward to meeting them all so that a consensus can be reached.
I leave in time to take my daughter to her weekly swimming lesson – just one of the many activities that she does and, with being in the office tomorrow, I decide not to take work home knowing that I can do a couple of hours after my meeting before enjoying the rest of the weekend with the family.