Three key members of staff who between them have a wide understanding of individual cultures and needs have been hand-picked to help client families at Coventry’s first Asian funeral home.

The new home, which represents a £1.3 million investment by the Heart of England Co-operative Society is situated on the site of the former Lateshop in Foleshill Road, and has been opened in response to an extensive survey which showed a need for the facility in Coventry.

The primary aim of the home is to give Coventry’s Asian community wider choice of funeral directors. The home has facilities to serve client families of all nationalities, races and religions and is the epitome of the Society’s philosophy of meeting the needs of the community.

To this end the Society appointed three key members of staff. Kamal Kandiara and Ashwen Rathod are the Funeral Directors while Anju Nathwani is a Funeral Arranger and also takes care of administration.

All new to the funeral industry, each member of staff received extensive, in-house training through the Society in the three months before the opening.

Before his appointment to the funeral home Kamal, aged 52, ran his own travel agency in Foleshill Road.

Picture Caption: Left to right – Ashwen Rathod, Anju Nathwani and Kamal Kandiara.

“Here I am dealing with clients as they are going through one of the most difficult and traumatic experiences in life. However they do take some comfort from the service we offer and although we haven’t been open very long we have already had a lot of positive feedback – not only from clients but also from the wider community. There is a lot of job satisfaction on that level.”

Ashwen, who lives in Keresley, had worked in a Co-op warehouse before his appointment.

The 44-year-old married father-of-two decided on a change of career after hearing of the vacancy through a friend who is a priest.

Ashwen, a key member of the Asian community, said he had received much positive feedback through his links, in particular with the Krishna Temple in Harnall Lane, of which he is a committee member.

He said: “The Asian funeral home is an excellent facility for the community. It has been very well praised and a lot of people I know say Coventry has been in need of something like this for a long time as there is such a diverse range of races, cultures and religions.

“Although we have only been open a short while we have seen many people come through our doors. We are expecting it to continue to rise as the word spreads even further.”

Anju also joins having worked in a social environment and previously run her own business for 22 years, operating a chain of petrol stations across the Midlands.

Anju is responsible for arranging funeral services and also provides an administrative function within the funeral home.

The mother-of-two, who lives in Tamworth, Staffordshire, said: “Admittedly this is very different from what I was doing before but I fancied a total change of career but one where I could know that I was making a difference, as that is what I enjoy doing.

“Already the home has been very well received in the Foleshill community and we have a team here who work really well together.”

Darryl Smith, General Manager of the Heart of England Co-operative Society’s Funeral Division, said he was delighted with the level of response to the home which started taking bookings right from day one.

He said the Society decided to open the home in response to a survey of 200 people, of which two thirds were Asian, which revealed they felt they needed more of an understanding of their particular needs and cultures.

He added: “We went to great lengths to appoint a team who we feel can meet those needs. Both Anju and Kamal are experienced business people. Ashwen and Anju are Hindu Gujurati whereas Kamal is Hindu Punjabi so we have a diverse offering within our staff. Together they make an ideal team.”

As part of the Society’s bid to expand its range of services throughout the network, client families at the new home will also be offered specialist services such as legal advice on wills, probate, floral tributes and a range of coffins and memorialisation opportunities.