About Us
Everyone relies on funeral directors to bring sensitivity and dignity to funeral arrangements, and those are two of the fundamental principles of independently owned and family managed Abbey Funeral Services Ltd. Founded by Jim and Chris Parker in 1983 and joined by their daughter Jo, in 1996 the award winning Tonbridge based firm have cared for families in Tonbridge, Hadlow, Hildenborough, East Peckham, Paddock Wood and neighbouring areas ever since.Both, Chris and Jim, have been the National President of the Society of Allied & Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) and have always believed in providing the highest standards. This was the first time that both a husband and wife had been honoured in his way in any funeral related trade organization. “We are immensely proud to have been elected to represent our profession in this way.”
Although now retired, Jim does, from time to time, conduct the funerals of people he has known. Chris continues to oversee the business side and have a deep involvement with training and education in the wider profession serving the Independent Funeral Directors College as Director of Education for many years in addition to running the company’s unique bereavement support programme. Jo is very much the face of Abbey overseeing all f the day to day business. The firm has thus remained at the forefront of industry best practice and is well respected within the profession.
AWARDS
AWARDS
In 2006 Chris parker was named a ‘Woman of Distinction’ by the Woman of the Year foundation.
In 2008 Abbey Funeral Services Ltd were runners up for the ‘Best Business in the Community’ section of the West Kent Business Excellence Awards. In 2009 we were delighted to win the award for Corporate Responsibility. In the same year Jo won the coveted Industry’s Funeral Planner of the year award
In October 2010 Chris was awarded an honorary life membership of the Society of Bereavement Practitioners which is awarded to individual bereavement or end of life care practitioners who have made an outstanding and sustained contribution to their professional field whilst Jim was awarded a fellowship for his work as National President of SAIF
In March 2011 Chris accepted a Fellowship of the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors, the first woman to become a Fellow of the Society.