Jenny Munro talks to David Capper
DAVID
Capper is a partner in Dunmurry funeral firm Elwood & Capper
Ltd, based at Kingsway.
The firm was established in 2005 but David and his business partner Brian Elwood worked as Funeral Directors for many years before venturing into business together to form an independent company.
Although he was raised in a farming background in Loughgall David, who is one of six children, found employment in the funeral industry.
He recently set up home near Dromore.
A typical day for me begins at 8.30am with the opening of the funeral office and re-diverting of the 24-hour manned telephone line back to the office, followed by a quick coffee and a check on-line for any emails that may be sent via our web-site.
I then have a look around the funeral home to make sure it is clean and presentable for any possible visits from members of the public or recently bereaved families.
Due to the nature of our business you can't really predict what you are going to do day to day
Most families usually leave contacting us when a loved one has passed away until we open the office in the mornings. Brian or I would then call out to the family home to assist them in making funeral arrangements.
This is a very stressful time for people so you have to be patient and give the family time to instruct us what they want us to do.
Once the arrangements have been finalised we then go and collect the deceased who is brought back to our premises where we carry out all that needs to be done prior to bringing them home or to our rest room.
When making funeral arrangements certain tasks have to be taken into consideration - this includes contacting clergy, arranging paper notices, the opening of a new or existing plot or booking a cremation time, catering, orders of service for the funeral and floral tributes.
Our job entails doing all this for the family as and when required, day or night.
On the day of the funeral we start by getting the vehicles washed and dried off.
As you can appreciate this has to be done to a very high standard, right down to painting the tyres, which I feel personally makes the job look complete.
We, as a funeral business, take great pride in the fact that all our staff are family.
My sister Gillian and Brian's mother Daly help out in the office and Brian's father Bobby, who has now retired, still likes to keep an eye on us to make sure things are done appropriately
I finish the day at the offices at 5pm but am on call 24 hours a day so this leaves me little time for outside interests. When I do get time to myself I enjoy dining out and visiting friends and family who are scattered across the province. I am also the assistant organist in St. Colman's Parish Church Dunmurry. I strongly believe that if you are offering a professional service you need to be part of the local community in whatever way you can. This is what I hope to offer the people of Dunmurry.
Ulster Star
27/10/2006
