Neville Funerals celebrates diverse florist team talent

Neville Funerals has praised the work of its “talented” florist team of six, who design “very personal and often complex” floral tributes for clients. The team of six, which now has a collective 83 years of experience between them includes three members who specifically retrained to become specialist florists after pursuing different careers initially. Neville Funerals said all three have succeeded in finding their wanted profession and can now develop their career with the group’s programme of mentoring and learning. Jo Johnson joined the firm in March 2020, just as the first lockdown was announced. She originally worked in advertising in London for ITV but wanted a change of her work life balance as she settled with children. She said: “Now they are older I feel that it’s my time and when the opportunity came up to apply for a full-time role at Neville Funerals I jumped at the chance and haven’t looked back. No two days are the same and we get to work on some amazing and unique tributes and with some lovely families.” Susan Brazier was taken on as a floristry apprentice in January of this year: She previously worked in the aviation industry in and around Luton airport for many years, first in Customer Services and then in the Engineering Quality Assurance department. She said: “Funeral floristry interested me most, far more than wedding floristry -it’s that extra connection with the family which is so important and so fulfilling, and watching the brilliant team here do what they do with such thought and creativity - the job satisfaction is immense – these are not your average florists!” Clara Osbourne has also now taken up the Floristry apprentice role after spending five years at the business as a Floristry assistant. She gained a degree in fashion design, then went on to be a manager at Boots, before joining Neville Funerals. She said:“I wanted to return to a more creative role, and this offered me just that. Sue persuaded me to move on to the apprenticeship programme and in 18 months’ time I’ll achieve a City and Guilds Level 2 qualification in Floristry.” The team is completed by experienced florist Jennie Attewell, who has been with Neville Funerals for 18 years, and delivery driver, Trisha Brown. Sue Evans, Floristry manager at Neville Funerals, said: “Creative talent, combined with life experience, is a successful mix for us. It’s a privilege to be able to design and deliver very personal, bespoke tributes for our clients – to listen closely to what they want and need and make just what they had in their mind’s eye. “To do that, we need to be able to put ourselves in their shoes and walk that path with them. A team with all levels of experience is invaluable and of course it helps that we can all help each other with creative ideas.”