A TOWN mayor has been visiting the funeral homes at the forefront of dealing with the Covid-19 death toll.

Mayor of Darlington Chris McEwan, wanted to recognise the efforts of funeral directors who have been doing their best to provide the best service to families, despite the ongoing restrictions and challenges.

He visited six businesses in the town – Co-operative funeral care, Seaton Leng funeral directors, Whitehouse funeral service, Saint and Forster funeral directors, John Meynell funeral directors and Darlington funeral service – to say thanks and give a small token of appreciation, with the help of Sandra Mellor, community champion at Morrisons Morton Park.

Cllr McEwan said: "Early on in the pandemic and prior to me becoming mayor I decided to support the efforts to get more people involved in bereavement taking – despite it being a difficult issue and something we don’t like to talk about. It became clear that death during Covid was somewhat akin to that of families who saw their sons go off to war 100+ years ago, and never saw them again.

"For some that may sound dramatic, but I have heard of so many stories of some having their last sight of a loved one literally when they said goodbye to them as they were put in the ambulance for hospital. They live not just with the sense of loss but also with the grief of not having been able to say goodbye properly."

Ms Mellor, who donated hampers to staff, added: "It was quite an emotional experience talking to the funeral directors as they said that it had been a challenging time as they felt as if they couldn't do their job properly and give the families what their loved ones wanted due to the restrictions they were working within."

"At the same time they were so thankful that we had thought about them with a little gift and a thank you. Sometimes a simple thank you is all it takes."

Julie Whitehouse, of Whitehouse funeral service, in Cockerton, said: "It was a wonderful surprise. It was completely out of the blue and it was lovely to be appreciated.

"It's been a really tough time for anyone who has lost someone through the pandemic. It's always difficult but with all of the restrictions it has made it harder."

From the initial uncertainty about the virus and not always having access to PPE, to having to deal with restrictions to services, there have been many challenges for funeral directors to overcome.

Mrs Whitehouse added: "It's been tough from a lot of aspects."

At times, funerals could have no more than six people in attendance, meaning families have had to find other ways of paying their respects.

Mrs Whitehouse said she had recorded some proceedings on her phone to send to those unable to attend in person.

She said: "Families were very understanding and paid their respects in other ways, whether that was people lining the streets or watching recordings.

"There were a lot of people who lost people who they hadn't seen for a length of time, especially if they had been in care homes. It was very hard to tell people they couldn't go to the chapel of rest or have what they would consider to be a proper funeral service

"I do wonder about what the aftermath of this is going to be because the funeral is a part of the grieving process. We had families in Australia and Canada who had lost very significant people and couldn't travel to the funeral."