It’s been yet another exciting awards season here at Welham Jones. We were thrilled to have won the prestigious Sevenoaks Business Awards for Best Independent Business 2024 in October and have been shortlisted for the Community Business of the Year and the Employer of the Year accolades at the upcoming Tunbridge Wells Business Awards.
The Sevenoaks Business Awards ceremony, a glamorous black-tie event at The Bat & Ball Centre, was hosted by the esteemed Mr Lennox Cato DL. Lennox is a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent and an internationally recognised specialist in antique furniture and works of art, known for his work on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. After moving to Kent in 1997, he became heavily involved in the local community becoming a Town Councillor and Chairman of the local Sports Association. Set up Edenbridge Cares, a networking platform for local charities, churches, schools and Town Councillors.
It was an unforgettable evening, elevated by the unexpected moment we were announced as the winners of the Best Independent Business award. After 32 years of dedicated service to our community, caring for members during their most vulnerable moments, it was both a surprise and a honour to receive this recognition.
As a local, family business we are committed to supporting other local businesses, from florists to solicitors. We sponsor local sports clubs, offer free advice on the Sevenoaks Facebook forums to families who need it and collect for food banks in the area – and while we don’t do any of this for the recognition, it was wonderful to know that the community value our support and our contribution is making a difference where it really matters.
Still buzzing from our success at the Sevenoaks Business Awards, we were thrilled to also have been shortlisted in two categories for the Tunbridge Wells Business Awards 2024, which will be held on 26 November.
We entered the Community Business of the Year category because we believe that we are making a valuable contribution to the community. Through our highly personalised services, we place each family at the heart of what we do: supporting and guiding them through an immensely emotional time.
We also entered the Community Business category because we proactively support the community through sponsorships and charity work, as well as take great care to source sustainable products and support customers to reduce the environmental impact of funerals by offering a range of eco-friendly products.
We also put ourselves forward for the Employer of the Year category as we take great pride investing in our staff and making them feel part of the Welham Jones family. And this is reflected in the loyalty of our staff: Our 16 staff members have been with us for an average of six years: with 6 for 3-5 years, 4 for 5-10 years and 3 for over 10 years. We also provide employment opportunities for older people, many of whom are overlooked by other employers, with our staff ranging in age from mid 30s to late 60s.
As we work in a niche industry, we often recruit based on attitude and offer our staff various training and development opportunities, for example, we offer structured professional development and training through our membership of The National Association of Funeral Directors.
We’d like to thank our families and our community for all your support over the past 32 years and look forward to reporting back on the Tunbridge Wells Business Awards.
Please get in touch if you are looking for a funeral director who put community at the heart of what they do.
The beauty of human beings is that we are all utterly unique: our likes and dislikes, our quirks and oddities, our passions, and persuasions; each of these help to make up a life loved. A life is not some abstract concept, it is 3D, it is palpable, it has a tangible effect on those around it, and at Welham Jones, we believe in creating funerals which truly honour this.
In our thirty years as family-run local funeral directors, serving families across West Kent and Southeast London, we have mastered the art of creating bespoke funerals that are as unique as the person they are celebrating. However, we’ve also noticed that many families are not aware of all the ways they can tailor their funeral, so we have created this guide to help break down what can be customised, what can’t, and the variety of requests we’ve seen throughout the years to prove that nothing is too great or too grand when it comes to celebrating the life of someone special.
For some families, the moment the curtains close at a funeral can be unexpectedly unsettling. Such a simple act can leave you feeling off balance—suddenly unsure where your loved one has gone, what is happening to them, and when they will be returned to you. The world behind the curtain can feel strangely distant, elusive, separate from your own. It may sound surprising, but in our 30+ years supporting families across the Southeast, we know these thoughts are more common than you might think. That is why we want to help—by dispelling the myths, sharing the facts, and offering some gentle reassurance about what really happens beyond the curtain.
Through 30+ years of working local funeral directors across West Kent and Southeast London, we’ve seen society get progressively better at speaking to loved ones about funerals, meaning that a lot of the mystery and myth surrounding our trade has – thankfully – started to clear. However, one question that we are still often asked is ‘what does a funeral arranger do?’ We sat down with Tunbridge Wells’ funeral arranger Sam O’flynn to find out the responsibilities, trials and triumphs that come with being a funeral arranger.
We're here to help
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