A funeral home in Mayfield has been transformed into a hub of life after months of renovations.
Admittedly, there are a few puns that come to mind when you first hear about the changes, but owners of the White Lady/David Lloyd funeral home in Mayfield say becoming a party hub means their business is setting “a benchmark” in its industry.
After four months of renovations, the refurbished funeral home on Maitland Road has been transformed into a multi-purpose facility available for function hire.
Manager Jenni Bowen said the original building, which had been a White Lady Funerals facility for 22 years, had been completely overhauled and rebranded as a joint operation with Hunter Valley operator David Lloyd Funerals.
Mrs Bowen said she was hoping the redesign would encourage the community to use the space for events including private celebrations, business conferences and community meetings.
“Only occasionally do you get the chance to start with virtually a clean slate and build a facility the community can use that is also a benchmark for the funeral industry,” she said.
“That’s what we have done here, without having to compromise on anything.”
The refurbished White Lady/David Lloyd funeral home includes a modern chapel that seats 80 guests with standing room for another 20, arrangement rooms where families can meet with members of the team, and state-of-the-art technology including live streaming capability, which enables funeral services to be beamed to people around the world who cannot attend in person.
Mrs Bowen said a new “reflections lounge” where people gathered after funeral services had been designed with commercial catering facilities that made it ideal for hosting other functions.
“I believe we have moved to the point where people are comfortable with the thought of holding meetings, conferences and even birthday and engagement parties in a function room attached to a funeral home,” she said.
“During COVID-19, with social distancing rules in place, we have had to be innovative in how we conduct services, so people are looking at our facilities in a different light and I believe that will continue once the world settles down again.
“We have created a serene, comfortable and welcoming facility that is also very functional and we hope people in the Mayfield area and the broader Hunter Valley will adopt it as almost a focal point for the community to use and share all the time, not only for funerals.”