For Information on
SAIF National Bereavement Awareness
click on the appropriate button

A new annual award scheme has just been launched to recognise the voluntary efforts of funeral directors in supporting their local communities.

Titled “SAIF Community”, the scheme has been put in place by the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) and is open to anyone from their 700-strong membership.

Submissions for awards may be based on any project or initiative which will help deliver real benefit to a community, and can include charity work, crime prevention, sponsorship, the creation of a new facility or any active participation in local support. Each entry must be validated by an independent person involved in the initiative, and a panel of independent judges will choose the final winners. Six regional awards will be made, with the best of these being nominated as the national winner in March 2004.

SAIF Chief Executive, Mervyn Pilley, comments “Our members, who are all independent funeral directors and not part of any bigger national company, have always been valued members of their local communities, in many cases for well over 100 years. Many of them dedicate a lot of time and effort to providing real community support outside of their normal activities and we felt it was time these efforts were properly recognised on an annual basis”.

For this first year of operation the projects entered for awards will be those identified by the funeral directors themselves. However, it is hoped that in future years suggestions for projects to support will come from within the communities themselves.

Return to News/PR Archive