The Holland Family – 50 Years in the Funeral Directing Profession

This year marks the 52nd year that the Holland family have been privileged to look after funeral services for the people of Grantham and the surrounding areas.

It was in 1969, that Robert’s dad, David decided that he would start his own business in Funeral Directing and became the first purpose-built funeral directors in Grantham, managing 38 funerals in their first year.

His wife Sheila promised to help so long as she ‘only had to do the books and didn’t have to deal with the deceased’. But before long, she was fully immersed in the business and doing every job she could, including removals, preparing coffins and also presenting the people in the chapel of rest, which she took great pride in.

Sheila enjoyed her role so much that she was encouraged to take a diploma in funeral directing and became the first female in the county to achieve it.

Robert soon came in to the business and progressed through his qualifications to become a qualified Funeral Director and Embalmer. His skills have taken him all over the world as part of an Emergency Response team. He has been to numerous incidents including the Townsend Thorensen Ferry sinking, the Lockerbie disaster, the air crash at Kegworth and The Asian Tsunami.

Sadly David passed away suddenly in 1994 and it wasn’t long before Robert decided to set up his own Funeral business here on St. Catherine’s Road. Since 2001 we have become the Funeral Directors of choice for many people in the town. Our team are all local Grantham people, many of whom started working with the Holland Family in the 1980’s & 90’s. Collectively they have over 160 years of Funeral experience.

Amongst the team are many faces that you will know.

Kyle Kinton is one of our qualified Funeral Directors and embalmers. He started working with the Holland Family in 1988. Many of you will know him from his time spent working previously at Grantham Hospital.

Chris Auckland, who worked for many years as a Prison Officer and also as local Air Training Corp Instructor is funeral arranger Part of our role is to be able to pre-arrange Funerals. Our pre-paid planning expert is David Williams who owned and ran AC Williams for many years. We also have retired army officers, Fire & Police Officers working with us and Jeff Peacock who was a proud member of the Royal Navy. He served on HMS Invincible during the Falklands War. Roberts son, Edward, continues to serve his country in the Royal Navy.

By having a team who have a wealth of different experiences we can ensure that each and every funeral that we look after is as individual as the person who it is for.

After 50 years our ethos remains the same. Our Funeral Directors is based on true family values. Local people looking after local families. It is so important that each family is treated as though they are a part of our family. We are here for you when you need us most.