York funeral director, 21, was never scared of death growing up

When Beth Harron told friends and teachers she wanted to be a funeral director, she was met with discouragement and told it was "not a proper job".

However, at 21 years old, Beth has followed her dream and qualified as York's youngest female funeral director.

She is responsible for arranging and conducting funerals, alongside her mentor Hayley Owen.

Although finding it to be a daunting job at first, Beth was happy to follow in the footsteps of her dad Frank, who was a trained embalmer.

Unlike other families, Beth's household would openly discuss death and the thought of it had never been anything to be frightened of.

"I really got into it because of my dad," Beth said.

"Death was never a taboo subject in my house. It wasn't a big secret.

"I would always ask my dad what he had done at work that day and he took me along to the British Institute of Embalmers dinner dances when I was quite young."

Beth spent her childhood attending funeral exhibitions and the older she got, the more interested she became in the industry.

However, she faced some criticism from people at her school for wanting to become a funeral director.

"People out there need funeral directors so I didn't see the problem in wanting to do it," Beth said.

"But my teachers just looked at my grades and tried to steer me to do art instead.

"There was pressure put on me to go to university and people at school thought it was a bit weird.

"I just tried my hardest to get where I wanted to be and proved them all wrong."

Now Beth has qualified, she said her friends thought it was "amazing" that she had accomplished what she wanted, but the details of her job were still too taboo to bring up in conversation.

"The biggest challenge for me was the academic side of getting a diploma," Beth said.

'Most rewarding job'

"Also, at the start, I was scared of letting people down because a family is trusting me to give their loved one a send off, which can only happen once.

"I was lucky because for my first ever funeral, I arranged it for the most lovely family and I was just honest with them that it was my first.

"When people are grieving, they just want the truth and for realistic expectations to be set."

In Beth's day-to-day duties she would meet with families to discuss their wishes and stay in touch with them until after the funeral.

"Sometimes it is tricky because a family might not know what they want and you have to figure out what will work for them," she said.

"People sometimes don't talk about funerals and their wishes because it's sad to think about but really, it takes a lot of the pressure off the loved ones left behind if you talk about it openly."

Beth said small aspects, such as the funeral music, could mean the most to families on the day and was something they were conscious to get right.

"But it really is the most rewarding job," she added.

"Once a family said to me 'you have done everything my mum would have wanted' and it made me so proud.

"It can be hard to switch off from work sometimes, especially when you hear of what some families have been through, but it helps to know that I'm providing them with closure."

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