Family affair for funeral company’s fifth office
Gillotts Funeral Directors’ new branch in Nottingham Road, Selston, is now open for business following an extensive refit project to convert a house into a funeral home, which will also feature its own showroom for coffins and other products.
It is the company’s fifth office – it also runs outlets in Eastwood, Kimberley, Stapleford and Heanor – but what has made this project different is the number of people involved who are related to one another, with five local families helping to bring the office to life.
The firm which carried out the building work, Newthorpe’s MJ Beresford and Sons, was represented by father and son team Mick and Tom Beresford, the painting and decorating was completed by Loscoe tradesman John Baldwin and his son, Luke, while the signage was created by Giltbrook firm Apollo Signs – operated by John Dexter and his son, Simon.
Working together on the project on behalf of Gillotts were Barry and Joanne Hutsby – who are father and daughter – while the office’s new administrator and funeral arranger will be Danni Allen, whose older sister, Amanda Outram, works in a similar role at the company’s Heanor funeral home.
Joanne Hutsby said: “We pride ourselves on being a family business but it is quite remarkable just how many other family connections have been involved in opening our Selston office.
“All of the same companies were involved in our new Kimberley office, which opened successfully last year, so we wanted them to work on Selston too, while it’s lovely for us that Danni is following in Amanda’s footsteps by joining Gillotts as well.”
John Dexter – whose wife also works for Apollo Signs, which is based on Giltbrook Industrial Park – said: “We have done all the signage for Gillotts’ other offices but we were pleasantly surprised to find out that we were one of quite a number of families involved in the Selston office.
“Simon and I have run the business for 18 years and it’s a nice thing for members of a family to all be involved. When a job’s completed, you can all look back and get a sense of satisfaction of what you all achieved together.”
The building features a reception, family room, viewing room and a mortuary, while its showroom will display examples of coffins, urns and other funeral products.
