NEWS & GALLERY - RJ Bray - Funeral Directors

R J Bray & Son named regional

Funeral Planner of the Year 2017

Wadebridge funeral director R J Bray & Son has been named the best medium sized funeral planner in the south west region at this year’s Funeral Planner of the Year Awards, run by one of the UK’s market leading funeral plan providers, Golden Charter.

Hosted by the BBC’s Dan Walker, the awards mark the biggest annual gathering of independent funeral directors in the UK with this year’s event taking place at the Park Plaza London Riverbank Hotel.

In addition to the award itself, a framed certificate and cash prize, the Woodland Trust has dedicated trees on behalf of R J Bray& Son, which are to be planted locally in recognition of the company’s achievement.

Malcolm Flanders, Golden Charter’s Director of Funeral Director Sales, said: “These highly competitive awards are now in their 24^th year and, each year, the standards increase. Funeral plans continue to grow in popularity, and the awards are more competitive than ever before. As independent funeral directors continue to set new standards of service, this award is well earned proof that R J Bray & Son are among the very best in the profession.”

The Funeral Planner of the Year Awards focus on the achievements of independent funeral directors, who make up a majority of the funeral profession.

Local Funeral Directors' double charity attempt

After only starting running and cycling in the last 18 months, David and Beth Bray are attempting a double challenge this year. In April they are running in the London Marathon, in aid of FLEET, and then, in July, cycling from London to Paris, raising money for the Alzheimer's Society.

David explained. "We'd had thoughts of running in the marathon, and, after speaking to Norman Trebilcock, our minds were made up".

"When I was young, our family were all involved with the St John Ambulance Brigade, with dad rising to the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Cornwall. I can remember him being on call evenings and weekends, and I can vividly picture the old Bedford ambulance, with no sirens back then, but instead, a big silver bell on top of the bonnet".

"Ambulances have come on leaps and bounds since then, and FLEET exists to raise funds to continually update their equipment throughout Cornwall".

If ambulances reflect Ron's past, sadly Alzheimer's disease is now his present. "Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease a few years ago, and although he remains happy in himself, it's sad to see the effect this disease has on both the person themselves, and their family and friends, so we were very keen to raise funds for the Society".

"As I prefer cycling to running, I'm really looking forward to this challenge. Our biggest problem, at the moment though, is getting snorkels long enough for when we cross the channel!".

"On a more serious note, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who asks after dad. There isn't a day that goes by, without people asking how he is, and this is so touching, and shows us how highly he is thought of".

If anyone would like to donate to either cause, David and Beth have justgiving pages as below, or, anyone can call in to their premises of R J Bray & Son on Egloshayle Road.

Funeral Planner of the Year 2012
R J Bray & Son was named Golden Charter’s Regional Funeral Planner of the Year for South Wales & South West England.

Golden Charter, Britain’s leading independent funeral plan provider, has awarded R J Bray & Son based in Wadebridge, the title of Funeral Planner of the Year Regional Award for its dedication and commitment in providing an outstanding service to their local community.

David Bray with wife Beth and sister Julie Bray received the award on behalf of the company from Michael Corish, Commercial Director at Golden Charter. In addition to the silver salver and framed certificate from Golden Charter, the Woodland Trust has dedicated woodland in R J Bray & Son’s name at Sanctuary Wood, Mevagissey in recognition of their achievement.

R J Bray & Son was judged as a regional winner from over 2,600 funeral businesses who exclusively offer Golden Charter funeral plans, the largest funeral-planning network in the UK.

On receiving news of the award David said ‘I am absolutely delighted to receive this award. The award recognises all the hard work, dedication and professionalism of all my colleagues.’

Ronnie Wayte, Managing Director of Golden Charter commented. ‘This is the 19th year of these awards, and each year it becomes more difficult to choose a winner. Through these awards Golden Charter celebrate personal excellence and professional commitment in one of the most difficult and challenging areas of serving the public.

‘R J Bray & Son has set a very high standard and we are delighted to recognise this tremendous achievement.’

Golden Charter is Britain's leading independent funeral plan provider and has the largest pre-paid funeral planning network with more than 2,600 independent funeral homes across the country, welcoming a range of funeral plans that can be personalised to suit individual requirements.
Golden Charter is registered as a provider by the Funeral Planning Authority and is the only funeral plan provider to be recommended by the National Society of Allied & Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF).
The company’s plans allow clients to fully cover the cost of the funeral so that once the plan is paid for their family or estate will never be asked to pay a penny more for the services within the control of the funeral director. Clients are free to appoint their own funeral director and funds are held in a dedicated separate Trust valued above £350 million or invested with leading UK based life assurance companies.
Golden Charter, based in Glasgow has completed more than 280,000 funeral plans since its launch 22 years ago and by being the Woodland Trust’s longest serving corporate partner Golden Charter has planted over 250,000 trees to create a living legacy for future generations.

R J Bray & Son, Wadebridge was named Golden Charter Regional Funeral Planner of the Year for the South West England and South Wales.

Golden Charter, Britain’s leading independent funeral plan provider, has awarded Wadebridge based R J Bray & Son, the South West England and South Wales Funeral Planner of the Year Regional Award for its dedication and commitment in providing an outstanding service to the community.

David Bray, Julie Bray and Beth Bray travelled to Brands Hatch in Kent to collect the award on behalf of the company. In addition to the silver salver and framed certificate from Golden Charter, the Woodland Trust has dedicated a stand of trees in R J Bray & Son’s name at Trenant Wood, Cornwall, in recognition of their achievement.

R J Bray & Son was judged as a regional winner from over 1,500 other funeral businesses who exclusively offer Golden Charter funeral plans, the largest funeral-planning network in the UK.
On receiving news of the award David Bray, said “I am absolutely delighted to receive this award. The award pays tribute to all the hard work put into the business by, and the dedication and professionalism of, all my colleagues.” Ronnie Wayte, Managing Director of Golden Charter commented. “This is the 18th year of the particular awards, and each year it becomes more difficult to choose a winner. Through these awards Golden Charter has been able to recognise personal excellence and professional commitment in one of the most difficult and challenging areas of serving the public.”
R J Bray & Son, have set the standard for this and following years, and we are delighted to recognise this achievement.”

For many years, placing announcements in the local and national newspapers has been the traditional method of informing relatives and friends the details of a funeral. This is still the case today, but Wadebridge Funeral Directors, R. J. Bray & Son now have an additional option. “A new service we now offer, free of charge, to the families we care for is via the internet”, said David Bray. “If a family wish to place an announcement in the newspaper, we will put a copy of that announcement on both our Website and our Facebook page. The two main advantages of this are as follows. Firstly, these days the announcement is usually placed in the press only once and so can easily be missed. Whereas, with this additional method, the details stay on our pages indefinitely. Secondly, they can be viewed via the internet anywhere around the world, so family or friends elsewhere can find the information they need. Although most of the elements of our profession are steeped in tradition, we feel by using this modern technology as well, we can help families even more”.

R J Bray & Son are proud to be involved with the Saint Piran Cycling Team.

David and Beth took up cycling a couple of years ago, and now the cycling bug is spreading through the family, and their work team.

Having completed the London to Paris cycle ride 12 months ago, raising funds for the Alzheimer’s Society, this year David and Beth are taking part in RideLondon - again raising money for the same charity.

If you wish to donate to the Alzheimer’s Society, please visit:
justgiving.com/teams/Bray.

As well as their involvement with the Alzheimer’s Society, they have also become involved with the Saint Piran’s team.

Saint Piran is Cornwall’s first elite cycling team, and their commitment is twofold. Firstly to give talented riders, (a big proportion being cornish riders), the opportunity to perform on the national stage, and, by 2023, compete in the world’s biggest races.

David said ‘We are so proud to be involved with Saint Piran’s, and think that it’s fantastic how they are helping to develop grassroots cycling here in Cornwall, hopefully, in years to come, giving many talented cornish cyclists the chance to compete on the global stage’.

Saint Piran has a unique funding structure, in which local businesses and private individuals support the team, and therefore enjoy in their success.

If you would like to help this cornish team, you can by going on the following link:
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/saintpiran1

For more information on Saint Piran, you can visit their website:
saintpiranprocycling.com

On Saturday December 12th, R J Bray & Son held an Open Day at their new Funeral Home, the old Methodist Church in Wadebridge.

For the last two years, a major refurbishment and extensive alterations have taken place, which have included adding a link building between the old church and Wills Memorial Hall, and construction of a first floor throughout.

Before the doors opened, David Bray invited his mother and father to cut the Cornish tartan ribbon on the chapel doors. This chapel is named after Ron Bray and will seat 80 people for funeral services.

During the Open Day, over 600 people came to have a look at the transformation, which, as well as the service chapel, also includes a function room, with catering facilities, offices, arrangement rooms, a coffin display room, Chapels of Rest, mortuary and garage.

As well as many locals from all parts of Cornwall, others attending included the National Presidents of both NAFD and BIFD, national representation from SAIF and the President of the Cornwall NAFD.

David said "We are so thrilled to be in our new funeral home, and are overwhelmed with the good wishes we have received. Although we have altered a lot of the building, I've tried to keep some of the old chapel - such as the pews, altar, organ, clock and memorials. We have been contacted by a large number of people who were sadly unable to come to the Open Day, so if anyone wants to pop in anytime, we will gladly show them around".

Relief as R. J. Bray & Son buy historic Church building

One of Wadebridge's most beautiful buildings is to be given a new lease of life after being bought by a firm of local funeral directors.

The Methodist Church on Egloshayle Road was put up for sale last year after it fell into disrepair. After much soul-searching, the Methodists had decided they needed a building which was more suited to their needs and put their spiritual home of more than 100 years on the open market.

Local apprehension about the future of the well-known landmark has now eased following the news that the church building, also known as Trinity Chapel, has been bought by RJ Bray and Son Funeral Directors. "Our main priority has always been to give the families we care for the best possible service," said David Bray. "When the Methodist Church became available, we felt that this would take our service to the next level".

"There is still a lot of hard work ahead with the building, but when it's finished it will be a huge benefit to the local area. Our plans include keeping part of the existing building as a chapel, where we can hold services, seating up to 80 people. The existing Wills Memorial Hall, which was used to hold functions – such as receptions after funerals for families – will also remain, but this facility will be moved upstairs into the main building."

The family-run firm says the new building will allow it to provide chapels of rest, arrangement rooms, offices and ample parking outside. Mr Bray also hopes to restore the old, dilapidated organ.

"With so much change in and around the town we are intending to keep the outside of the building pretty much as it is, keeping a part of Wadebridge history alive," said Mr Bray. "As the last few months have gone by, and people have heard that we were going to buy the chapel, the comments we have received have been so positive, both from the general public and from members of the Methodist Church," he said.

Reverend Peter Smith, the Methodist Church minister, said he was delighted the chapel had been bought by RJ Bray and Son. "They have such understanding and sympathy for those who are grieving and the chapel is a spiritual place well-suited to the important work they do," he said. "I really feel the chapel couldn't have gone to better use and as a church we are so very pleased the building will continue to serve the community."

The chapel opened in 1876 and was the hub of the Methodist Church in the town until 1961, when the building closed and the congregation joined the Free Methodists at 'Forty Windows' Chapel. The congregation returned, though, in 1971, following the closure and the demolition of Forty Windows.

The Wadebridge Methodists continue to meet for services at Wadebridge Primary School and Coffee Corner next to the cinema in the centre of town. All are welcome.

Movember

After a little thought and, with 4 decades without any facial hair, David has decided to participate in this years Movember. During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces in the UK and around the world. The aim of which is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. On Movember 1st, they register at Movember.com with a clean-shaven face and then for the rest of the month, groom and trim the moustache. By doing this they raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts.

Participants effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November and through their actions and words raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.

Anyone wanting to donate can either enter http://mobro.co/DavidBray in their browser or c/o our offices at R J Bray & Son, Bridge End, Wadebridge, PL27 6BX (Telephone 01208 812626). There will also be information on our website www.rjbray.co.uk or our R J Bray & Son Facebook page".