We are people first and funeral directors second – so you will find us relaxed and approachable and wearing everyday clothes, not the usual sombre black attire of other funeral directors.

We won’t try to shoehorn you into arrangements that you don’t want, or wouldn’t feel comfortable with.  We won’t rush you into decisions and we won’t mislead you about our services or prices.

ARKA Original Funerals is owned by women and run by women, with the support of a few lovely men. We all work part-time, and consider it important to balance life with work, but where possible it could be the same person who gently collects your loved one, who helps you with the arrangement and who will be supporting you on the day of the funeral.

If you wish ARKA to collect someone during the night 9pm – 8am we are supported by Rob and Ryan and their lovely team. They have supported us for a long time and, after 20 years of being available both day and night ourselves, we decided to take care of ourselves and hand over to others who we trust entirely so we can be better ready for the daytimes. We can offer advice and reassurance, and if you would prefer that the ARKA team collect the following morning and we are always on the end of the phone 24/7.

We believe in people’s individuality and celebrate the diversity of our unique community and we work hard to ensure that we do it justice.

One organisation that has tirelessly worked to improve standards within the funeral world is the Good Funeral Guide, which is a not for profit organisation that (amongst a myriad of other things) inspects and recommends funeral companies for the benefit of the public. Click here to see what they said about us.