Funeral Directors in Herne Bay & Canterbury
About A. Welch and Sons
We are a family owned, independent funeral directors and have been serving the local communities of Herne Bay, Whitstable, Beltinge, and Canterbury since 1948. It has been an honour to help, support and comfort many Kent families over the last 71 years and we would like to thank each and every one of our valued clients for their loyalty and hope to continue to serve for many more years to come.
- Free. expert, impartial Help & Advice
- Tailor-made funeral arrangement to your specific needs whatever they may be.
- We are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
- We can visit you at home at no extra charge if you need us to.
- Qualified in House bereavement counsellor.
- We have a deep commitment to providing a reliable, caring and above all, personal service to suit your specific needs.
- We have a proven record and experience in providing high standard service since 1948.
- All our funeral directors are Qualified members of the BIFD (The British Institute of Funeral Directors) and hold the Diploma in Funeral Directing.
- Tim Welch, the current Managing Director is also a fully qualified embalmer and member of the BIE ( British Institute of Embalmers).
Our customers say ...
On behalf of myself, my family and our friends, I would like to thank you and everyone at A. Welch & Sons for the outstanding service you provided for my wife’s funeral. I realise that, as funerals are what you organise daily, they would always run smoothly. However, I would like to thank you on a personal level, for the compassion and care that you showed throughout this very sad and emotional experience. Your team on the day were most helpful and respectful too, and we thank them as well. You also put us in touch with the lovely Tara Snedden, an independent funeral celebrant. I must say that she has been thoughtful, compassionate and efficient from the word go, keeping in touch with me on an almost daily basis. Everyone at the service thought that she was an excellent celebrant. She is a credit to her profession, and we thank you sincerely for your recommendation. So I must finish by saying a big thank you again for what you did for us, because you did it in a very professional manner whilst keeping everything on a very personal level. This was so very much appreciated and in fact needed at such a traumatic time.
Our heritage
Alfred Welch, the ‘A’ of A. Welch & Sons was born in 1876. Like his father and grandfather before him Alfred became a coachman. Alfred married Ellen Tritton and they had 8 sons and 2 daughters. In time 5 of the sons joined their father in business, and so A. Welch & Sons was born, carrying out household removals, taxi work and supplying horses, carriages and coffin bearers to the four local funeral directors in Herne Bay.
One of the sons, Harold, also assisted one of the funeral directors, initially with coffin making and later with arranging and conducting funeral services. When the sons returned from the second World War, and, in 1948 the family decided to undertake funeral arrangements in their own right alongside the other work the company was doing. Read more about A Welch & Sons here.
Evolution
When motor vehicles replaced the horse and carriage our stables were converted into workshops, timber stores and a Chapel of Rest. In 1960 the decision was taken to concentrate solely on funerals. Our premises were continually updated and improved, refrigerated storage facilities and an embalming theatre were installed and we became the first fully equipped funeral directors in the Herne Bay, Beltinge and Canterbury district. During the seventies we had 4 private viewing chapels and a private service chapel built. In 1994 we opened a second branch in Canterbury.
The way we work
Our philosophy is a simple one: every funeral we arrange is the most important funeral we have ever conducted because it is so important to you. Every person whose funeral arrangements are entrusted to us is somebody’s son or daughter, and, in most cases somebody’s mother or father so we care for them as we would want our own children or parents cared for.
It is a fact that a funeral will always be a sad occasion but that doesn’t mean that it has to be miserable. A funeral should be a celebration of that person’s life, a time to remember the joy they brought into your lives and the happiness they shared with you in their life. It is our aim to help you achieve that goal and assist you to make the funeral service as comforting as possible.
