Newtownabbey funeral director gives 'extensive' history talk in Rathcoole

Chris Scott, a funeral director with Wilton Funeral Service, was invited to speak to the ladies at Newtownabbey Methodist Mission in Rathcoole on Monday (October 16).

Since his teenage years, Chris has had a keen interest in local history, and at an early age interviewed older members of the community and recorded their stories for posterity.

Chris is a ‘late joiner’ to the funeral profession, starting out as funeral arranger and progressing to a Funeral Director.

Chris recently uncovered several original Wilton Funeral Day books covering the period May 1929 to December 1933.

He explained: “These registers provide an invaluable insight into aspects of the funeral business and our social history almost 100 years ago. I have carried out an analysis of the books revealing some stark facts about aspects of our ancestors’ lives across Belfast and beyond in the ‘Hungry Thirties.’

“The talk at the Newtownabbey Methodist Mission encompassed the early history of Wilton Funeral Service in the late 1920s and early 1930s, touching on the extensive history of the Wilton family.

"I uncovered some strange tales relating to the funeral business from the 1930s. From my early teenage years, I have amassed a wealth of stories and ‘come-all-ye’s’ from previous generations throughout the community and I related some of these to the captive audience.

"It was an era when the clocks were stopped, the mirrors covered and the windows opened when a death occurred in the family home. Some of the ladies present added to the presentation by relating their own personal stories and memories from their own childhood.”

As a token of thanks for the presentation, the ladies kindly handed a cheque to Chris, to be forwarded to Marie Curie Hospice.

Next month Chris will be speaking to St Colman’s Ladies Group, North Street Presbyterian Ladies Group, Carrickfergus Historical Society and Gilnahirk Presbyterian Ladies Group.

Chris will also be available in the future to visit church groups, organisations, historical societies, or other interested parties, on a mutually agreed date.

For further details, email [email protected]