Throughout the next few months, Grassby & Sons will be introducing you to some of their local Funeral Directors from Dorchester and Weymouth.

The first is Paul Buddin, who works at Rose Funeral Service in Wyke Regis, but also arranges funerals at Grassby & Stockting Funeral Service in Weymouth and Grassby Funeral Service in Dorchester.

Paul grew up with his family in Dorchester. He attended St Marys First School followed by Dorchester Middle School and finally Thomas Hardye School. He was in the first year after Hardyes and Castlefield merged.

Prior to becoming a Funeral Director Paul joined HM Armed Forces from school, serving in the Royal Engineers. He served in Germany, Bosnia, Canada and Poland.

Whilst abroad he helped with various projects such as building a school for young children in Bosnia and working with locals in Croatia to renovate a village hall.

After he left the forces he went on to work for HM Prison Service.

Paul joined Rose Funeral Service in 2014 and works alongside fellow Funeral Directors, Sam Wilding and Melody Hopkins.

Paul’s funeral directing qualifications include a Diploma in Funeral Arranging and Administration (Dip FAA) and he is also Certified Funeral Practitioner (Cert FP). He is a member of the Independent Funeral Directors College.

The reason Paul wanted to become a Funeral Director was because he had a tragic family bereavement, and seeing how funeral directors helped him and his family through the difficult time made him realise it would be a rewarding career where he could help other people.

Away from work Paul is kept busy by his young family. He also enjoys supporting the local football team, Dorchester Town, and helps to run his sons football team.

Paul has also taken part in various fundraising events, including, The Weldmar Jurassic Hike, a 26-mile trek across the undulating hills along the Jurassic coast, raising money for Weldmar Hospicecare. He has also helped run football tournaments to raise money for Help 4 Heroes.

Paul enjoys working with a local family run funeral directors because he gets to help people in the local community, and work with families to organise personal and fitting services that reflect their loved one’s life.

Rose Funeral Service, Grassby & Stockting Funeral Service and Grassby Funeral Service are part of Grassby & Sons Ltd. The company was founded in Dorchester by Benjamin Grassby a stone carver, in 1861.

The family stonemasonry business continued down through the generations of the Grassby family, and in 1970, Clinton Grassby opened Grassby Funeral Service in Princes Street, Dorchester.

The business continues to be run by Peter Grassby, the fifth generation of the Grassby family, and Nick Grassby, the sixth generation of the family.

William, Peter's son, joined the memorial masonry department in 2016, where he is learning all aspects of masonry.

All branches are supported by the masonry works at Grassby Memorials located just outside Dorchester in the village of Grimstone.

All branches are members of NAFD (National Association of Funeral Directors) and SAIF (National Society of Allied Independent Funeral Directors).

For more information please visit www.rose-funeral.co.uk