Maldon Nub News has been bringing you our new series of Up Close in Maldon every Saturday, talking to key people in the town and surrounding villages from many different walks of life.

Today we feature an interview with Paul King of Paul J King Funeral Directors who talks about the challenges of the pandemic and reaching out to the local community at this most difficult of times.

The first thing that's obvious when Paul King joins the Zoom interview is that any expectations of unapproachability and dark offices are – well, completely wrong.

Paul is warm, calm and clearly has a very long experience of putting people at their ease.

"The Victorians gave funerals and funeral directors an image that's hard to shake off," Paul says, "people tend to think we're very different to how we are and one of the things we try to do at Paul J King is make sure people know that we're approachable and easy to talk to about what they want.

"We've made changes that don't make us wildly different, but distinct – we have burgundy ties, instead of black and our cars are black over burgundy – although, of course, we will provide whatever anyone wants.

"The biggest problem in the pandemic has, in some ways, been reaching out to the community in the ways we're used to doing. We take our cars to local shows and sponsored the Maldon Beer Festival, for example. We go into schools for careers evenings and talk to youngsters about our

profession. At the start of 2020, we had a full diary of community events – and of course, that suddenly all stopped.

"Local people would often stop in for a chat, but we had to close our doors and could only let people in with social distancing measures," Paul adds.

The Covid-19 pandemic and it's effects on the funeral industry are clearly something Paul, who has 35 years' experience behind him, is passionate about. It has been easy for some to assume that all the pandemic has meant for funeral businesses is a sad boom in trade, but in reality the experience has been difficult, prolonged and most of all, utterly exhausting.

Paul says: "It's easy to forget the circumstances of all this for funeral businesses and the ways we've had to change and adapt, sometimes at incredibly short notice.

"We've had to put in place so many changes to ensure Covid safety and to work out quickly what we need to do, then suddenly and repeatedly there's been a new set of changes. And all the while we're trying to do our very best for our customers, bereaved families, knowing how important getting things right for them at such a time is.

"Anger is a natural part of the grieving process and now people are getting more fed up and angry with the pandemic situation on top of that. Most people have been very understanding about the rules, but it's also understandable that when people are grieving some of the regulations can seem very severe."

However, having moved the Maldon business from the top of the High Street to a much larger premises in The Causeway, Paul is pleased there has been more space and a chance to create two chapels of rest, one more traditional and the other with a more modern feel.

"I had been looking at the building for a long time before we purchased it," Paul says, "and it had been a dream of mine for years. We were so restricted in the old premises because it was one of the oldest buildings in the High Street and so we couldn't do much to alter anything."

With the new space at Maldon, the branch – opened in June last year - has now become the head offices for Paul J King, which has branches in Burnham-on-Crouch, South Woodham Ferrers, Chelmsford, Braintree and Hullbridge, as well as Maldon.

Looking to the future, Paul is pleased he can continue to offer the people of Maldon district and beyond a service that is keeping pace with the community and changes to life we all lead, from technology to attitudes.

The Paul J King website is modern, highly user friendly and even includes a green heart symbol called 'My Wishes', which people can use to make sure their family – and the funeral directors – know what their wishes are.

"There's been a huge change in the way society thinks about funerals and about life and death," Paul says, "nowadays it tends to be so much more about a celebration of a person's life."

The Paul J King website can be found by visiting the link here or you can call on 01621 855552.