A FUNERAL directors clinched an award at the national “death Oscars” only five years after opening for business.

Compassionate Funerals, of Aldersbrook Road, Wanstead, beat stiff competition to win “Most Promising New Funeral Director Business” at The Good Funeral Awards held on Thursday, September 7.

Allistair Anderson, co-director of the firm expressed surprise and delight at the result.

He said: “It came as a complete surprise. We listen to what families want then act on it. To get this recognition shows we are doing the right thing because we haven’t got a 100 years of heritage behind us.

“It really was a team effort. We have got great relationships with the crematoriums, cemeteries and families. It’s the families who create it, we go on and do it.”