Reverend Tom Watts with the cheque for £1,000

WATCH OUR ONLINE HISTORY CHANNEL, UNTOLD LONDON, ON YOUTUBE

CORONERS, pathologists and celebrants gathered on Thursday to mark another year in business.

Eco-friendly funeral directors LDC Funerals, which operates from a “garden shed” behind terraced houses in Tufnell Park, hosted drinks at the bar Never For Ever to raise a toast to those in the industry.

The family business is run by Paul Farrell (below), his brother and his wife and is the contracted funeral director for the Whittington Hospital Trust.

Mr Farrell, who took over from previous director Jeremy Smith after he died in 2023, said: “You could not find a venue with a name more appropriate to our industry. It’s been an interesting journey made possible only by Dean Janson, who is here this evening. He manages the mortuary at the Whittington. He not only gave me a platform to operate on, but he’s become a genuine friend.”

Mr Farrell presented a £1,000 cheque to Reverend Tom Watts of St John’s Church, Downshire Hill, which partners with London City Mission that “works with those on the edges of society across London”.