Woodville Co-operative Funeralcare appoints a familiar face in the community
A well-known South Derbyshire councillor has come out of retirement as a funeral arranger to work alongside her daughter.
Sandra Wyatt has joined Woodville Co-operative Funeralcare in Granville Street, where she is helping daughter Lorraine Walker to run the operation.
The Tory district councillor jumped at the chance to return to her old job when a vacancy cropped up.
Sandra worked for 15 years in the funeral profession before retiring at the age of 65, but after four years away missed her previous role.
Mother and daughter, Sandra Wyatt and Lorraine Walker who are helping local families to arrange funerals together.
“As her mum I used to give the orders, but Lorraine is the funeral director here and tells me what to do now!” she said.
“I’m thoroughly enjoying it. We have a very good relationship. We go on holiday together and only live five minutes away from each other by car – and from the office.”
The pair also worked together many years ago at a different funeral firm.
Sandra’s advice to anyone else of retirement age is to keep active.
“I couldn’t keep going on holidays or shopping all the time. Personally, I needed a purpose again rather than just staying at home.
“I’ve always found this job so rewarding because it’s about doing your best for people when they are at their lowest, and making them feel confident in you.”
The mother-of-two, who has three grandchildren and four great grandchildren, intends to keep working for as long as she can. She replaces Angela Bowyer who retired recently.
Lorraine said: “It’s the perfect arrangement because we didn’t need to give her any training. She’s got bags of energy and is very much a compassionate and caring person.
“We work well with each other. The only thing I have to remember is not to call her mum at work! It’s a bit strange calling her Sandra, but we have to be professional at all times.”